A Vision Through the Rain
by issylovestancred
Summary: Written by IssyRomana97  me, my other account . Rob/Karen. Secrets are shared, and problems arise, but will they be able to cope?
1. One Month

One Month:

Nervousness and disarray were beginning to grow and form inside of her as she stood sideways, looking intently at her slim figure in her full-length mirror. She patted down a few crinkles in her dress and twisted her hips to see what she looked like from several different angles. She made a small considerate hum in the back of her throat and smiled slightly as she carefully scanned her appearance. The dress she wore so perfectly was a deep indigo colour, and it reached just below her knee. It was tucked in slightly around her waist, helped by the thin belt tied around the middle of her figure. On her feet, she wore stylish, yet demure and suitable three inch black heels. Her hair had been washed and dyed a chic shade of honeysuckle blonde that was not so different from her normal colour. Her make-up was refreshing and subtle, with pale violet eye shadow, light pink blusher and a lavish lashing of black mascara over her greying eyelashes. Altogether, looking from an outsider's point of view, she looked simply ravishing. However, although she realized that she looked okay, Karen did not really believe that she looked so amazing. Average, alright, but she didn't have the sparkle that she used to have years ago when she last went on a date. But it would do; she had tried and she was pretty sure that he would appreciate her effort. She gazed again the mirror. She wasn't vain, but this was a completely different situation and she wanted to attempt to look her very best.

Jess glanced through the door of her mother's bedroom and smiled proudly and widely. Her mum looked absolutely radiant, and Jess was so glad that she was finally happy once more; it was the first time Karen had been properly joyful since the truth about her stupid dad's infidelity had come out last year. Jess was also becoming fonder of Rob with every passing day: the way he made Karen feel so special and appreciated all the time, every second of every day. He had even managed to pick her up after she lost her job. Jess remembered the horrifying day when she had come home to find her mother lying down on the sofa, crying her eyes out. She had, of course, tried to comfort her, but to no avail, so she had rang Rob. He turned up within fifteen minutes and all he had done was go into the living room, hold Karen in his arms and gently whisper to her about how amazing she was. He had kissed her softly and they had stayed in that position for almost the whole evening. Jess' hand found the pronounced bump on her stomach and she smiled even more broadly than before. Her baby was due in less than seven weeks, and as terrified and scared as she was about becoming a mother at such a young age, she was so looking forward to it.

Jess entered her mum's room and came up and hugged her from behind. 'Mum, you look amazing,' she murmured happily, resting her head. Karen turned around and properly hugged her heavily pregnant and rather tired looking daughter and stroked her hair comfortingly,

'Thanks sweetheart,' she said, grinning widely and feeling a lot better. Jess suddenly detached herself from her mum's comforting grip and went and fetched a pair of scissors. Karen looked confused when she came back into the room, but Jess beamed knowingly, turned her mum around and cut the tag out of her dress, 'You don't wanna go out on a date with the label still in!' she cried joyfully, staring down at the label. An expression of shock crossed her features, 'Jeez, how much did you pay for this mum? I know you like him and all, but two hundred and forty five quid?' She stared at her mother in admonishment, but laughed at Karen's blushing. Karen quickly placed a hand on her stomach as she turned to analyse herself again, but it was only for the most fleeting second. 'So,' Jess began, leaning on Karen's chest of drawers, a hand rested on her stomach, 'Are you going to tell him tonight?' she asked concernedly, a worried look on her pretty face. Karen turned around, a sudden expression of depression and unhappiness on her gorgeously painted face. 'I have to,' she murmured. Jess nodded in agreement and jumped slightly when the doorbell rang shrilly through the house. She squeezed her mum's hand tightly before Karen smiled appreciatively and descended carefully down the stairs. She quickly pulled the front door open and smiled broadly, barely able to contain her joy at seeing him.

Rob stood in her doorway, leaning on the red brickwork of her house, a bunch of white roses in his outstretched hand,

'Evening beautiful.' He was wearing a pair of dark denim jeans and a dark blue shirt. She giggled unashamedly and closed the front door behind her, after having quickly smelt the roses, inhaling the gorgeous scent and left them in the permanent vase by her front door ever since they started dating. They walked down the street together, laughing and chatting amiably about their day. After a few minutes of walking, he trawled his hand across in the air and gently entwined his fingers with hers. She did not look directly at him, but smiled down at the ground, and continued talking. She felt so loved when she was within his grasp, but she wondered just how long she would be able to do this for. What she was about to tell him would change everything; for better or for worse. So she would kiss him now, love him now, tell him…later. She grasped his hand a tiny bit tighter and kept hold of it until they reached the restaurant when he turned to her and said, 'You look stunning,' and kissed her on the lips. Since their very first date, Karen and Rob had both realized that kissing in public wasn't as embarrassing as it was made out to be. And so they did – a lot. She wasn't the headmistress anymore, there was no prejudice involved anymore, and no one cared about their differences in "class". She left his lips a second before he planned to, but kept her face right next to his so she could feel his breath on her lips, which tickled her slightly.

He held her waist and she, laughing all the while, replied with, 'You don't look so bad yourself Mister Handsome.' He winked roughly and then, holding her hand, led her inside. They sat down at their regular table, the one that they had sat at every time they had been here since their first date, the time of their first kiss. They gripped hands on the table as usual, resting them gently on the patterned table cloth, and Rob called over to the waitress, 'We'll have a bottle of red wine please.' The waitress quickly scribbled this down, nodded her head, and went to leave to process the order and before she could totter off in her stilettos, Karen quickly piped up, 'Excuse me, but I'll just have a glass of water please.' Rob raised an eyebrow questioningly, but did not hasten to ask any questions about her refusal to alcohol.

The drinks arrived, the food was ordered soon afterwards, although Karen shied away from seafood and shellfish – they just made her feel a bit sick. 'You know what I love about this place?' Rob asked suddenly, smiling deeply, happiness blurring away in his glimmering blue eyes. She felt awful, how long would it be before that smile was gone, the lights in his eyes just switched off? Karen shook her head truthfully, swallowed a large bite of lasagne and mumbled out, 'No, what?' She was not so on the ball this evening, distracted almost, he thought, recognizing it straight away, but she looked absolutely fantastic, and he still hadn't found the time to tell her properly, 'This was the place when we had our very first kiss,' he said, in a kind of sing-song tone, stroking her hands, encompassing them within her own. She looked up from the remains of her food, and her eyes twinkled in the small light emanating from the flickering candle in the centre of the table.

'You look so beautiful,' he muttered to her, and although the light was small, he saw a blush creeping up her neck. Oh, she would really like to kiss him right here, right now. But there was something stewing maliciously in the back of her head, something awful, a horrifying secret lurking that she had to let loose. It was the one thing that had restricted her smiles this night, and prevented her from letting all her love flow through to him. She had a barrier in her brain, and everything just had to halt violently. She had to tell him. But she had to ask him first, she couldn't tell him and anticipate his response and just make him stay, but she could ask him first. She would ask him. Otherwise all this, all their love, was just going to circle and fall down the drain.

Oblivious to what she was about to enquire, Karen took an extremely deep breath and quickly interrupted his talk and boldly asked, 'Rob, do you love me?'

He stopped, mid word, and hung his mouth open like a bemused goldfish, and no words fell from his mouth. A billion thoughts rushed and raced and ran manically and wildly through his mind, and a whirlwind torrent of love, romance, angst and trust pounded mercilessly around. What could he say to that? He did love her, of course he loved her, but they had been together just four months and he felt very deeply for her, he cherished every second he was with her, but he couldn't ruin it now. He had done this before, admitted true feelings before the time was due, and this was all happening too fast. He wanted to take it slowly with Karen. She was so amazing, and he wanted and prayed for his to last. They were both at the same place, but he didn't want to ruin everything that they had.

But as these thoughts, these incredibly confusing and reasoning thoughts whirred around in his head, he had failed to notice that he had gone off into a kind of trance where he had been staring at her in incredulity quite unnervingly. He snapped out of it immediately and calmly murmured, 'Love is a big word Karen, and I don't know if I can…'

'Forget it,' she whispered quickly, trying to laugh it off, wiping away small tears that had formed. She tried to continue on with her dinner, but after a few minutes, she stood up, quickly grabbed her slimming white jacket and fled from the restaurant, tears flinging from her face. She had got the complete wrong impression he suddenly realized as he slammed a fifty down on the table and ran out after her. He caught up with her when she was halfway down the alley leading out towards her home.

'Karen!' he called loudly, sprinting almost to try and catch up with her disappearing figure, 'Karen, please wait, please!' To his intense relief, she slowed and stopped, leaning and slumping desperately against the wall. The night was edging and creeping in, shades of black and midnight blue spreading across the sky. Dark rain clouds were appearing and tiny little drops of rain were beginning to splash and dribble down from the sky, colliding coldly against her skin. Her mascara was starting to run, not just from the rain, but from her own, warm tears.

When he reached her hopeless and shivering form, he pulled her into a large hug, and although she tried to protest, pounding her fists against his chest, she finally gave in and collapsed in his arms, sobbing weakly all the while. He brushed a piece of hair from her face, held both his hands against her cold cheeks, and whispered, 'Karen what's wrong?'

'This won't work if,' she began to say, sniffing back awful tears falling from her crystal blue eyes, 'If you don't…' she trailed off, unable to continue, her voice just running out. He smiled at her, and clutched her even closer to him. 'Karen, of course I love you,' he whispered in her ear, not speaking a word of a lie, 'I love you. I love you. I love you. So much.'

She looked up at him, disbelief splattered all over her face like paint randomly splashed onto a wall, 'Do you mean it?' she asked nervously, her voice still quivering and shaking with fear. Resting his forehead against hers, he leaned his lips in towards hers and murmured, 'I've loved you ever since I first laid eyes on you. And I love you more and more every day.' He leaned in towards her even closer and tentatively pressed his lips to hers. It was a small, chaste kiss, not to overpower, not filled with passion, just his way of letting her know that he meant everything that he had just said, 'Now, what's brought all this on you silly girl?' he asked her seriously, wiping away the collaboration of tears and rain from her face, holding her firmly by the shoulders. She looked him directly in the eyes, and he saw fear. And this fear was purer and more real than what she was like on the day of the inspection, when she had found out she was being replaced, and he wanted to love her so much just to wipe that horrible fear from her face – it didn't suit her.

He gripped her hand as she trembled not only from the ever growing cold. 'I had to be sure before I told you,' she began, stuttering slightly, 'I didn't want to force anything on you and then watch you freak out over it…'

'Karen, what the hell is going on?' he asked loudly, interrupting her evident stalling. She glanced up at him again, tears rolling down her face, 'Rob, I'm pregnant.'

The look on his face, in the split second that he heard exactly what she said, was almost indescribable. Shock, sheer shock, utterly and indescribably shocked – to the core of his very existence.

'Is it mine?' he breathed, his voice higher and squeakier than before. She nodded furiously, 'Of course it is, of course it is.' No words are spoken. This will change their lives forever. This is such a big thing that he hardly believes it. Maybe he'll wake up in a minute, and she will be lying next to him and he will be able to kiss her fingers and temple and forehead without any complications. But he is here, and this is real. He can feel the rain strolling down his face and dripping from the end of his nose. But he is smiling. He is not sure exactly why, but his brain soon catches up with his heart and he says to her,

'A kid…wow.' It's all he can manage and muster at the moment, but she appreciates this. She goes to leave once more, the cold beginning to make her feel the slightest bit fragile and ill, but he holds onto her and holds her, 'Hopefully this one will be less of a troublemaker than the other one,' he whispered in her ear, to her utmost delight. She looks at him, such love in her expression, and she quietly murmured, 'Are you sure Rob?'

'Did you really think I would leave you? Is this why you were asking? I do love you, and the baby. We're all in this together now.' He placed a hand awkwardly on her flat stomach, and she holds his other loose hand which she is not surprised to find trembling.

'Are we going to be able to cope Rob?' she asked, tears building in her voice, trailing down her face and splashing against the pavement, adding to the pitter patter of the rain. He hugged her once more, 'Of course we can. I'm here, you're here, and I love can do this together, you beautiful woman.' He looked down at her and traced a smile across her lips with his thumb. She quickly curved her mouth to fit in with his pattern and it became broader than he could ever imagine when he came out with, 'You've got a nice smile, you know. Good to see it back again.'

**Seven Months Later…**

'Honey, I'm home!' Rob yelled cornily up the stairs of his house as he wrenched the front door open and slipped out of his drenched and soaked through shoes and jacket. He had recently developed this irritating habit of randomly coming out with really cheesy lines from old films, and would just drop them into a conversation every now and then. He wiped his feet on the welcome mat and then headed to the kitchen to try and find Karen. When he had first discovered she was pregnant, his first thought had been for them to move in together. So, after a lot of consideration, he had given Aiden and Jess, and little baby Carla his house and moved in with Karen and Harry, like a proper family. Harry didn't mind in the slightest, in fact he really like Rob. Within the first few weeks, Rob had taken him fishing, to the cinema and all sorts. He wasn't trying to be Charlie, and he wasn't trying to replace him as a father figure, he just wanted everyone to get along. Rob quickly glanced around the pristine kitchen and looked momentarily confused when he could, initially, not find her. Normally when he got home from work, she could be in the kitchen and he would jump up and scare her and then they would kiss and talk about their days; it was all very homely and perfect. It was all so perfect. But where was she today? The storm increased in tempo outside, and a clap of thunder roared outside and a flash of lightning sizzled across the sky, colliding loudly with a nearby building. A thought bumped into his head, like a brick against a window. Of course, he thought worriedly, beginning to run up the stairs to their bedroom, poor Karen was absolutely terrified of thunderstorms. He burst through the door of their bedroom and, as predicted, there she was, huddled underneath the many thick blankets and quilts draped over their bed, tears falling freely from her face, her bottom lip quivering in fright.

'Oh, Karen,' he breathed out, climbing into the bed with her and holding her expanding form in his lap. She turned her head to his chest and the sides of his shirt with two clenched fists. She choked on her tears and he lied down next to her, holding her as close as possible. He wrapped an arm around her and held her hand with the other. He shushed her soothingly, humming a soft lullaby until she had calmed down and stopped hyperventilating. He got up and quickly drew the curtains to shade away the storm and returned to the bed. He took all the quilts off, so it was just the four pillows and them, and sat up against the backboard and held her on his lap. As they sat, he wrapped his arms around her waist and placed two hands on her extruding stomach.

'Are you okay beautiful?' he asked lovingly, murmuring encouragingly. She turned to face him, heaving her body with her. Her mascara was running all over her face and was smudged left, right and centre. 'Yeah,' she whispered, 'it's just, I hate…'

'Thunderstorms,' he said, completing her sentence for her, 'I know. If you were so scared you should've rung me and I would've come home,' he whispered. She nodded and shifted in his lap, resting both of her hands on top of his on her stomach. 'The baby's been kicking all through the storm. I don't think they liked it either,' Karen mumbled sadly. Rob smiled and allowed her to divert his hands to the place where it was kicking. Rob beamed in amazement as he felt tiny little kicks emanating from inside, 'Just nine weeks to go,' he muttered callously, 'And you still look amazing.'

'No need to sound so surprised,' she muttered to herself, but he just laughed.

'I love you beautiful,' he said in her ear and leant down and kissed her lips, 'and stop kicking your mother, give her a break,' he muttered sweetly to her stomach.


	2. Two Months

Two Months:

He was awoken by the sound of the springs in the pit of his mattress heaving and groaning as someone lifted their weight from the bed. He shuffled under the covers and breathed out heavily, not giving knowledge to the person that had just been in his bed that he was indeed awake. He rolled onto his other side and attempted to shut his eyes and go back to sleep, but his body wasn't having it. Instead, his brain was putting up a huge resistance to this action and so, yawning silently, he turned his gaze towards the gorgeous woman who had climbed out of his bed. She was standing, in just underwear, in front of the full length mirror that hanged from the wall, staring in incredulity at the slowly, but surely, appearing curved bump on her stomach. He watched as she placed two hands upon it, disbelieving that it was real.

Ever since he found out, a mere three weeks ago, that she was pregnant, they spent every night together; whether it was just sitting on the sofa eating a takeaway and watching Strictly on the telly, or lying in bed softly whispering to one another. He smiled as she did the same, but it was quickly wiped from his face when she waltzed over to the window and wrenched the blinds open, the undiluted sunshine pouring through, shrouding him in a blanket of bright light. She stood by the window for a few seconds, just admiring all that was to be seen on this fine morning, and she then proceeded to try and get dressed. Unbeknown to her, he quickly rose out of bed, making as little noise as possible, and tiptoed up behind her. He wrapped two strong arms around her bare waist, placed his lips to her temple and then whispered,

'Karen, come back to bed. It's too early to get up.' She swayed in his grip and turned around to face him. She went to reply, but before she could, he leaned down and gently kissed her. He brushed his fingers across her cheek before she regretfully pulled away, a playful smile on her expression, 'Well, you're out of bed as well so there would be no point.' She raised an eyebrow, and gave him an all-knowing smile before he started tickling her. She giggled loudly and bit down on her lip to stop herself from crying out in mercy as his fingers gently caressed parts of her flesh, sending a shivering sensation up her back. 'Well Mrs Fisher, there's no need to be such a smart arse this early in the morning,' he moaned at her, stopping his wild and random tickling and just holding her close to him. 'I can't help it, it just comes naturally,' she replied absentmindedly, beginning to turn back around to stare at her reflection in the mirror again. She put her hands on her stomach and felt immediately comforted when he came up behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist and placed them on the same position. He entwined fingers with her, although his hands still rested on her not-so flat stomach. They both smiled the exact same, warm and safe, smile and they both leaned their heads in and kissed. When they drew apart, he quickly pressed his lips to her cheek before loosening his grip on her and going to find some decent clothes to wear. In the middle of his searching, something came flying at him, something blue and long, and hit him in the face. He heard a supressed laugh and grunted out, 'Thanks Karen,' as he pulled on his jeans that had just been chucked at him. He spotted her shirt that she was so avidly searching for and hid it out of sight for the time being – revenge was in order for the jean throwing. Karen was starting to panic slightly and when Rob said, 'You going out in just a skirt?' it didn't really help that much. She sneered sarcastically at him and rolled her eyes, but beamed happily when a hand took hers and gently pulled her back down onto the bed. The covers were kicked towards the end of the bed at the moment and so they just laid there and breathed, entwined together by the hands.

'You do know we have to leave this room at some point during the day?' she asked rhetorically, although she would've loved to stay with him like this all day. But she had a lunch appointment with Jess, who was due in less than a month's time. At first, it had been really strange and kind of awkward that mother and daughter were both pregnant at the same time, but they had quickly adjusted, and Karen was glad that Jess didn't appear to resent her for being in the same situation, and "stealing her thunder". Rob chuckled and replied cheekily with, 'Maybe not. You're the ex-headmistress in this relationship, you make the rules.' She blushed like a little girl, but went in to kiss him when a rapt knock came on the door, and Aiden's irritated and bored voice echoed into the room,

'Dad, can I come in or is my old head teacher completely indecent again?' Karen's cheeks reddened with the memory of the first time that she stayed over at Rob's and then what had happened on the morning after.

'Morning gorgeous,' he mumbled cheerily in her ear as her eyes fluttered open. She blinked a few times, getting used to the light in the room and then she suddenly became conscious of where she was. The bed was soft and comfortable, those ones that mould around your shape, and the covers were light yet warm. She had two arms wrapped around her body and her head and some of her upper body was lying on his chest. She smiled sleepily and detached herself from his chest so she was lying down next to him. She cautiously leaned out a hand, disbelieving of the fact that he was here and he was real, and stroked his cheek. His flesh was warm and his cheek was stubbly, but the touch was electrifying, like they had both been shocked. 'Morning,' she murmured, closing her eyes in contentment and smiling when he planted a quick kiss on her forehead.

'Last night was fun,' he muttered seductively into her ear and she turned onto her front and gazed at him flirtily. 'I do believe it was.' Wide awake now, she sat up against the headboard of the bed, pulling the covers up with her to shade her indecency. He joined her and they both smiled broadly when they leaned forwards and kissed. She let her head fall into the crook of his neck and he held onto her figure. 'Do you think we should get up?' she asked miserably, not wanting, but having, to ask that question. He stared down at her, a grin becoming more obvious on his lips, 'I don't really think so. The school can manage for a day without us,' he said. She slid back down into the bed, pulling him with her and kissed him once more. And then again, little pecks and kisses and taps of lips on lips. The kisses became longer and deeper as they continued, their hands finding one another's, and everything began to intensify until…

The bedroom door opened widely and Aiden stood in the doorway, utter horror and mortification on his face. He tried to stutter out some words as Karen blushed insanely and squeaked in shock and tried to hurt under the covers, whereas Rob was just smiling like a little kid with an ice cream.

'Well, erm, let's just say that this never happened, hey?' Aiden suggested weakly before sauntering shakily out of the room, disgusted with the scene he had just witnessed. As he left the room, however, he accidentally caught his foot on something the doorway. Aware that his dad and his headmistress were still watching him, he ungraciously went to disentangle himself from it when he noticed exactly what it was. His dad was a dirty bugger. Pulling a bra off his foot, without turning around to face her, Aiden chucked it to Karen and said, 'I think this belongs to you Mrs Fisher,' before running into his room, in case anything else embarrassing happened. What had his dad and Karen up to last night? Actually, erase that, he really didn't want to know. And he came up with one word to describe it: ew.

Karen quickly pulled the covers back over the both of them before Rob called, 'It's okay, and we're both…yeah.' The door swung open and Aiden walked in, chewing gum in mouth, hands in his jean pockets. He turned to the two people in his dad's bed and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Jeez, every night (almost) she was round here, why didn't she just move in already or something?

'Jess is waiting downstairs for you Mrs Fisher,' Aiden said cheerily, albeit it was still a bit awkward that he called her by her formal title. Karen quickly checked the time and gasped, 'Rob, it's half eleven, we must've slept in!' He smiled ruefully and put an arm around her shoulders, 'You would've thought so wouldn't you beautiful?'

Aiden did actually roll his eyes this time (the physical strain was too much to resist doing it) and he quickly, yet chirpily said, 'Well then, I'll leave you two to…yeah. See you guys later.' He quickly exited the room, running back downstairs so he could sit and be with Jess.

Rob and Karen literally leapt out of bed, and Rob chucked her shirt over to her and she slapped him on the arm for having hidden it from her. When they were both fully dressed, and Karen's bump was concealed behind her shirt, she walked up to him and asked concernedly, 'Are you going to tell him today?'

Rob nodded, 'Yeah, he needs to know. You told Jess, I've got to tell Aiden. Ooh, wish me luck; he's going to kill me.' Karen laughed, although she knew there was some truth imbedded in his words. She knew how angry Aiden had gotten at her when Naomi left and Rob got back together with Karen, and how annoyed he had gotten when Rob told him that they were together, so she had no idea how the hell he would react. Her smile faded a little bit, but she giggled when he slapped her backside and grabbed her hand and pulled her down the stairs.

X – X – X

'So what did you want to talk to me about?' Aiden enquired carefully, dragging his gaze away from the retreating car driving down the road, away from the Scotcher household. Rob gave him his usual lop-sided smirk and led him towards the sofa. He made a pot of coffee and put it on the table in the centre of the room and motioned for Aiden to help himself. Aiden smirked and leant back comfortably on the sofa, putting his feet up on the table after having kicked his shoes off.

'Right, well, this is quite big,' Rob began, the seriousness of his tone hinting at Aiden to sit up and try and act the least bit interested, 'And it's going to change quite a lot of things quite considerably…'

He was cut off by Aiden, who was growing ever more suspicious with every passing second. Aiden rose to his feet and yelled, 'I am not moving away again! There is no way I'm leaving Jess behind!' Rob chuckled drily, but hastened to reply before he got a punch in the face, 'No, we're not going anywhere. It's something to do with me and Karen…'

'Before you tell me, do I really want to know?' Aiden asked cautiously, raising an eyebrow, although his angry expression had loosened and dissipated after he found out they weren't leaving again, 'Because the walls in this house are so damn thin that I can hear you most of the time!' he exclaimed embarrassedly. Rob laughed again, 'No, no, it's nothing like that.'

'Oh thank God,' Aiden breathed out, grinning cheerfully and leaning for a cup of coffee, ignoring Rob's stutters of sentences. Aiden, Rob was pretty sure, was not listening anymore, and so he decided to just come out with the truth straight away.

'Aiden, Karen's pregnant and I'm moving in with her. We want you and Jess to live here together to have more space for when your kid comes.' Aiden dropped his coffee onto the floor, the cup smashing into several pieces and the brown liquid spilling and seeping over and into the carpet. He spat the coffee that was currently in his mouth out in surprise, his eyes widening to an enormous size. He spluttered with his words and could not bring himself to say anything until a few seconds of awkwardness and utter, horrifying silence had passed.

'Are you telling me, that after the whole "keep your head down" thing,' Aiden began slowly, a smile of disbelief on his face, his tone beginning to sound the tiniest bit patronizing, 'You got my ex-headmistress pregnant? Pregnant as in "going to have a baby" pregnant?'

'Is there any other sort?' Rob asked concernedly, becoming a bit anxious with the way Aiden was taking the news that he would have a new sibling soon. He seemed to be slightly delirious and happy, and he was almost getting to the point where he was laughing, 'Aiden, are you alright son?'

Aiden faced his father and just replied with, 'You're having me on aren't you? You're just having a laugh?' There was a slight tone of desperation in his voice, but Rob just shook his head and replied with, 'No Aiden, I'm not joking. I know it's weird with Jess and all, but it's just what happened.'

Aiden's level of joy faded and gloomed slightly, and his smile evaporated, replaced by a look of sheer distaste, 'You dirty old man. Jeez, I mean, come on dad, what the hell?'

Rob almost sighed out in relief; this was exactly how he had expected his son to take the news, 'I love her. I mean, I really love her.'

'Okay then,' Aiden started, his voice slipping into a neutral state of mind. This was a bit shock, but he could digest it, 'Alright, Karen's pregnant. You're moving in with her, I can deal with that. What was the last thing?'

Rob leant down to pick up the shards of china lying over the floor, but brought himself back up when Aiden asked that question. 'I want you and Jess to have the house. If I'm moving in with Karen so I can look after her, I want you to have the same thing with Jess. It's only fair.'

Aiden's face was perfectly picturesque.

'You want to go for awkward manly hug or formal hand shake?' Rob asked curiously, tilting his head in anticipation towards Aiden, but his question was answered when Aiden pulled his father into a thankful hug, 'Thanks dad,' he muttered, masking his gracious tears by burying his head into Rob's shoulder. 'That's alright son,' Rob murmured back, patting Aiden on the back appreciatively, 'Thanks for taking this so well.' Aiden smirked, and then sunk back down onto the sofa, and raised his eyebrows. Rob thought that "question time" was over by now, but apparently not so.

'So, you and Mrs Fisher, eh?' he asked, putting a certain emphasis on the last syllable of his enquiry. He waggled his eyebrows suggestively and Rob took a large glug of coffee before turning to his son and saying, 'Yeah. I know,' he added simply onto the end of his statement.

'And you two…?' Aiden asked, prying even deeper into his dad's relationship with his girlfriend's mother. Rob's eyes twinkled in the light that was pouring through the open window at the front of the house, 'Yeah.'

'You're a dirty old man,' Aiden stated again, repeating what he had said earlier, before laughing at his dad's reaction and leaving the room. Rob sighed out heavily once he was gone, that wasn't as bad as he had expected, although being called a "dirty old man" wasn't exactly the most complimented he had ever felt. His mobile buzzed suddenly, and he pulled his phone out of his pocket before flipping the screen up. He grinned at Karen's name on his phone, and read the text which said

"How did he take it? I told Jess, and she's happy. The baby's fine. I love you. Xx"

Rob smiled broadly at this, before quickly tapping out a reply of,

"He took it okay. Glad Jess is okay, and the baby. I love you too beautiful. Can't wait to move in! Xx"

He sent the text and replaced his phone in his pocket. All was good, right now, in the Scotcher and Fisher households.

X – X – X

Rob and Karen sat on his soft leather sofa, a pot of noodles waiting to cool down in one hand; the other was gently holding onto each other. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kissed her on the temple and she slumped down and snuggled next to him. They were sat in almost silence, with the TV switched on a low volume playing Take Me Out. Karen hummed out in comfort and shut her eyes when Rob stroked her hair from her face.

'It's going to be just you and me soon,' Rob murmured out, not wanting to break the calm and quiet in the room. Karen opened her eyes and looked up at him. 'And the baby,' she added thoughtfully, smiling up at his face. He grinned as well, and put a hand on her stomach. 'This is all so surreal isn't it?' he asked nervously, hoping that she would agree with him. She nodded and sat up next to him, grabbed a fork and dug into her pot noodles. Her cravings were not kicking in just yet, but there had already been a couple of morning sickness incidents that neither of them had particularly enjoyed, and they both knew (from previous experience) that it was going to get ever more difficult from now onwards.

'We'll be okay though, won't we beautiful? Rob asked, and Karen leaned in towards him and kissed him. 'Yeah, we're going to be just fine.'


	3. Four Months

Four Months:

'I was thinking that we should start looking for some of the stuff we're going to need for when the baby comes,' Karen suggested casually, stuffing a piece of toast with two layers of ketchup and nutella on it into her mouth, smearing half of the distasteful (to anyone who wasn't pregnant) mixture on the side of her mouth. Rob finished making tea and placed the pot in the middle of the kitchen table. He sat down on the seat next to Karen and wiped away the nutella from her lips with his thumb.

'You're so messy sometimes Karen,' he pondered aloud, causing a smirk to force its way onto her lips, 'And that would probably be a good idea. We've already got the cot and stuff, but we really need to start renovating Jess' old room into the nursery,' Rob continued, casually tipping salt instead of sugar onto his cereal. He grimaced in disgust when he took a mouthful and pulled a face when Karen reached for the bowl, having finished her toast, and started spooning it down her throat. She nodded in compliance with what he was saying and replied, 'You want to go into town later and see if we can get some paint? I was thinking pale blue.' Rob nodded his head in agreement, but then he suddenly came out with,

'Oh sorry Karen, I've got to meet someone today to sort out some stuff...' he said vaguely, not realizing how much suspicion his comment would arouse later. But for now, Karen just continued eating the salt coated Weetabix until she suddenly dropped the spoon to the floor, stood up and whispered, 'I'm going to be sick.'

She ran from the room straight to the bathroom and threw up the majority of her disgusting breakfast. She bent over the toilet, her hair hanging in her face before Rob came up behind her and held it back. 'It's alright beautiful, just let it out,' he said calmly, and she threw up again, taking his advice and not supressing the sickness. She coughed afterwards, a little more vomit rushing out of her mouth, but she seemed to be done after that. She flushed the loo and put the lid down, sinking weakly onto it whilst Rob ran to fetch her a glass of fresh breathed out heavily, beads of sweat rolling down her face from her forehead and temples. Her skin was flushed white and hot to touch, but this was all completely normal for this part of her pregnancy.

Rob appeared in the doorway of the bathroom. 'You look rough,' he stated clearly, not intending to be offensive. She snatched the water from his hand, downed half of it and then muttered, 'You try being bloody pregnant.' He chuckled at this and came and knelt down next to her. He gripped her hand tightly, 'It must suck, being sick all the time.' Karen nodded quickly to this, 'But it'll be worth it when the kid comes, eh?' he asked comfortingly. Karen again nodded, her hair shaking in front of her face. Cautiously, and wobbily, she rose to her feet and allowed Rob to half carry her up the stairs so she could go and get dressed. He gave her some time, but not before long, he checked his watch and saw the time to be already half ten. He knocked on the upstairs bathroom door and yelled, 'Karen, I've got to go out and sort some stuff out. I'll be home in a few hours max. Love you beautiful.' She did not respond for she was currently brushing her teeth with liberal amounts of toothpaste to get the awful taste from her mouth, but she swung the bathroom door open and he planted a quick kiss to her cheek and said, 'Bye beautiful.' She watched as he ran down the stairs and out of the front door, slamming it behind him.

Karen spent the next twenty minutes applying her make-up, although it was slightly pointless as she presumed she would just have a lazy day seeing as Rob was unable to drive her anywhere now he had the car. He didn't really like her to go anywhere by herself, just in case.

She pulled on a pair of jeans with a slightly elasticated waist so they slipped comfortably over her bump, and yanked a plain black jumper over her head. Karen's care for fashion and her general appearance had deteriorated a lot since the first bouts of sickness a few weeks ago, seeing as she was too tired to go anywhere after having one of them. So she just pulled on any old clothes (her selection was fast shrinking) and decided that, ignoring what Rob's best wishes for her were, she was going to go out. Harry was over at a friend's house so she didn't have to worry about waking him up. Karen knew that Harry, being the kind and considerable kid he was, did not mind that he had to live with her and Rob, but she could tell that he was beginning to get slightly peeved with being woken up every morning with the sound of Karen either retching or crying. She knew her son wasn't comfortable with seeing her so ill all the time with the baby, but it was like this at some stage for every pregnant woman, so it was nothing out of the ordinary.

Karen made her way downstairs and slipped into a pair of black pumps permanently left by the door so she didn't have to bend down and get them from the cupboard under the stairs. Seeing as it wasn't raining, but forecasted as a bit chilly, Karen wrapped herself and her broadening bump in a warm green jacket and grabbed her bag from the side. Before she left the house however, Karen caught a glimpse of a scrap of paper lying by the telephone. On it were just two words and a time,

'Lee's Cafe. 11 A.M.'

Karen was intrigued, and she knew this note had been written by Rob, and she had half a mind to go and see what was happening, but common decency stopped her. Rob had his own life, and no matter how bonded they were together now, he could at least keep his privacy.

Replacing the note on the small table, Karen walked out of the front door, a smile plastered on her face. She swung her bag over her shoulder and placed her hands into her pockets and waltzed steadily down the street. Although the bad points of pregnancy glared out at you like a siren all fricking day, Karen quite liked it really. One of her favourite things, although it seemed quite silly, was the way that her coat now stuck out as it tried to cover the bump. She smiled and made her way into the centre of town, where she headed straight for the local DIY shop where she purchased some sky blue paint. Another perk of being pregnant: people lifted stuff for you, and sometimes carried it to the till. Her purse was now a little lighter, but her bag was a hell of a lot heavier. Karen heaved her way then into New Look (Jess told her about the maternity clothes in here and how nice they were). Initially, she felt rather embarrassed in the shop, but once she caught sight of many other women in the maternity section, Karen loosened up a bit and spent a good forty minutes trying on a few shirts, eventually picking three out with the assistance of some of the staff. Once out of New Look, and seeing the time to be half twelve, Karen decided to ring Rob to see if he was done with his "stuff" yet. She gave him a text, basically asking if he wanted to meet her outside New Look (she had spotted a rather lovely looking bench a few metres away), but her expression turned sour when his reply came through.

"Sorry beautiful, taking longer than I thought, can't make it. See you later. Xx"

Half angrily putting her phone back into her bag, Karen made her way up the high street, intending to finally pop into the fish and chip shop (cravings people, any of you been paying attention?). On her way, she passed Lee's Cafe, and could not help but take a sneaky sideways glance in through the window of the shop. And forget shocking to the core and all that crap, Karen was ready to either burst into serious tears, or snap someone's neck; and she knew which one she would preferably do in the given situation.

Sat in the window of the coffee shop, laughing and chatting amiably, drinking tea or coffee or whatever, was Rob. And sat right next to him was his bitch of a (still) wife, Naomi. Karen stood in the crowd for a while, just watching the two talk and giggle and smirk like nothing bad had ever happened, like Naomi hadn't just walked out on her family for the second time a few months ago. And absurd as it was, and as ridiculous as she felt for having these emotions, Karen actually felt jealous. And then she felt guilty, for the most fleeting second. She had Rob all day, every day and she couldn't lord over him all the time, but then this was Naomi. She was vindictive and rude and completely unreliable. And after everything that she had caused to happen between Rob and Karen, there he was in a coffee shop with her, talking like nothing had ever happened. She just had to get home. Forget Rob, forget Naomi, forget even the chips, she just wanted to crawl into bed and not come out for the next few hours.

Wrenching her gaze away from the cafe, Karen began walking down the street again, her expression - just a picture of disappointment. He better have a good excuse for blowing off their day of nursery shopping, to go and have coffee with Naomi. Karen knew full well that she was jealous of Naomi, for being younger, prettier, skinnier whatever, but she couldn't help but just feel a bit betrayed. Maybe this whole thing would blow over with his reason for it, or maybe World War Three would start up in their household, who knows? All Karen knew right now was that she really needed some ice cream, with maybe a bit of peanut butter on the side. Gosh, the last thing she had wanted was for his wife to turn up again. This was just going to go from bad to worse.

X – X – X

Rob pushed the front door open and chirpily called up a hello through the house, expecting some sort of greeting or response from Karen. Placing some files on the table by the door on which the phone was placed, Rob yelled another hello, but Karen did not appear on the landing, or come out of any of the rooms downstairs. Rob quietly ascended up the stairs and made his way to their bedroom. He smiled when he pushed the door open a fraction. The blinds were drawn shut, the early afternoon light being banished from the room. Karen was led across their double bed, and her breathing was loud and heavy, her eyes shut serenely. Definitely, or maybe, asleep, he thought. He gently pushed open the door a bit more, but swore loudly when it creaked and Karen groaned and tossed to the other side, pulling the quilt up to her chest. 'When you come back from a date with your wife,' she grumbled, 'Can you at least be quiet?'

Rob entered the room and went and sat by the side of their bed. He leant in to kiss her on the forehead, but she turned around to the other side so he couldn't reach her. 'Karen, what's wrong?' he asked concernedly, frowning all the while. She bit down on her lip to prevent herself from crying, but quickly replied with, 'I saw you and Naomi earlier.'

She knew why she was being like this, and she had perfect justification, but it didn't mean that she liked it. But it was so difficult to supress anger, especially when someone you trust upsets you.

'Karen, it's not what you think!' he exclaimed, annoyed at her sudden presumption. He saw her reasoning but he didn't have to like it either. She rolled out of bed and stood up, fully clothed, and pulled her slippers on. 'How is it not?' she asked angrily, her voice getting louder and louder. He rolled his eyes at her (something that really annoyed her at the moment) and stupidly said, 'Jeez Karen, you always jump to the wrong conclusion don't you?'

Bad thing to ask an upset, possibly soon-to-be angry pregnant lady. Very bad thing to ask. She stormed up to him and flapped her hands around threateningly. 'I knew this would happen, it's an old Scotcher family trait! Get someone pregnant and then run off and leave them the moment someone better comes along!' Karen yelled tearfully.

Oh the stupid woman, she had got the complete wrong end of the stick. But that was low, saying that, that was a low and completely uncalled for thing to say. 'That's unfair Karen,' he murmured, but then his voice began to rise to an angry tempo. He didn't want to yell and shout, especially at her, but today had been tough enough and he really didn't bloody need this right now, 'You don't even know what I was doing!'

'It seemed pretty damn obvious!' she retaliated loudly. He shook his head at her and yelled back, 'Do you really think I would do that?'

'Yeah, you Scotchers are all the same,' she said furiously, edging towards him, backing him into the landing, 'You don't give a damn about anybody's feelings or who gets hurt, as long as you're okay and satisfied then screw everyone else!'

He had had absolutely enough, and if he didn't leave now, he was going to do something he would regret. He stormed down the stairs, ignoring her completely, and almost pulled the door off its handles. Just before he left, however, Rob turned to Karen, and he yelled, 'You want to know what I was doing with Naomi? I was signing the bloody divorce so I could ask you to bloody marry me. Happy now?'

He turned on his heel and swept from the house, slamming the door loudly behind him. Karen ran back to their bedroom and jumped into the bed and curled up and cried, but Rob headed to the pub - God knows he needed a drink. That woman and her damn hormones were doing his head in.

X – X – X

He ordered a pint of Carlsberg, although he did not move or intend to drink it, it just seemed kind of appropriate for where he was currently sat. The pub was dark and dreary, exactly how he felt right now. Sometimes, only sometimes, he wished that she wasn't pregnant - purely so that she wouldn't be so uptight and suspicious of anything that he did. It was almost like her hormones were just messing with her levels of paranoia and making her feel like crap all the time. He knew that they really were hurting her sometimes, but then again, there was no need to say some of the stuff to him that she had said. Telling him that he was useless and a coward, it was completely unfair. He just needed some time for himself, just to think and relax, and then he would go and talk to her.

His phone buzzed for the seventh time in the last five minutes, but, knowing who the caller was bound to be, he silenced it. Rob took a quick glance at his screen background and felt very saddened by the picture: him and Karen sat in a photo booth, like a couple of loves-truck teenagers. He was kissing her on the temple and she smiled down at the floor embarrassedly, beaming widely.

A text came through, and although her cries for attention from him were more than disconcerting, he only read it resentfully.

"Rob, I'm sorry. Please pick up your phone, I need to tell you something important."

He groaned aloud - he wasn't ready to talk to her yet, but when the next call came through in the next ten seconds, he answered it, placing the phone to his ear, 'What do you want Karen?'

'Rob, please come home,' Karen choked out down the phone, her tears masking her words, making them almost intelligible, 'Please come home, I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry, but there's something wrong. I love you, please, I love you.'

'Karen,' he said calmly, his panic levels rising insanely high, 'Karen, what's wrong?' He could only hear her tears and sobs down the phone, crackling in the background. 'I don't know, something's wrong. Please come home Rob, I'm really scared.' Apart from the tears, sobbing and choked out words, those last three words made him realize that he needed to get off his arse and get back home to his pregnant and terrified girlfriend, 'Okay beautiful, calm down. I'm on my way, I'm coming home. I'll be there in a few minutes, just keep calm, just keep calm.'

'Rob, please hurry,' she whispered, her voice quivering and shaking, going from low in tone to squeaky and high pitched. He snapped his phone shut, almost chucked a fiver on the side of the bar to pay for his beer, grabbed his coat and sprinted out of the bar. He ran into a few people and some dogs on the way back, and he tripped over his shoelaces before he arrived back home. He fumbled with his keys and kicked the door open. Rob dumped his coat on the floor and sped up the steps, his heart almost bursting up through his throat like vomit would soon if he didn't see her soon.

He pushed the door of their bedroom open and hastened over to the window still where Karen was sat, her hands wrapped tightly around her stomach, her tears falling so thick and fast that her eyes were permanently blurred. He could hear her heavy sobs from outside and he immediately ran over to her and stroked her hair from her face. He held her face and grabbed both of her cheeks and turned her head so she was looking right into his eyes,

'Karen, look at me,' he said serenely, 'Calm down beautiful, just calm down.' Karen stared at him, her tears rolling down her cheeks and spilling over his hands. She nodded and tried to wipe away her tears, 'Something's wrong Rob, it doesn't feel right.' He looked concerned again and worry crossed his expression. 'Okay, no need to panic,' he murmured out, placing a hand on her ballooning stomach where there was space from her arms which were covering it.

He almost laughed out in relief when he realized what was really happening, 'It's okay Karen, there's nothing wrong, the baby's just kicking. And this is the first time I'm guessing, eh?' Karen's head snapped up, tears flinging off her face. She looked bemused, and confused but she did not look any happier than earlier. When she spoke, instead of her tone being invaded with relief, it was still crossed with anxiety and pain,

'Are you sure Rob? Are you sure?' He nodded happily, and metaphorically wiped sweat from his brow. She breathed out heavily and stood up from the window still. With some assistance from Rob, she found her way over to the bed where she just sprawled out across the mattress and pulled the covers right over her head so he couldn't see her.

'I'm so sorry Rob,' she said, her voice muffled by their quilt over her face 'I'm sorry for overreacting and yelling, and now this...' she added sadly onto the end of her sentence, and it broke his heart to hear her cracking up into tears once more. He pulled back the quilt from her face and stroked her cheek softly, 'It's okay beautiful, it's all going to be okay. I'm here, I'm not ever leaving you again,' he whispered reassuringly, a smile appearing on his face. But a thought smashed into his head, and he anxiously asked, 'Karen, why did you think something was wrong? You've been pregnant before, so why did you not like, realize?' She looked up at him, and motioned for him to lie down next to her, and he did so without question.

'Because I'm so scared that something bad is going to happen. No one gets everything they want, like us. I'm so happy that I'm terrified,' she whispered truthfully, her cheeks going white out of fear. Rob had never expected Karen to own up to that kind of fear; he had never expected Karen to even experience those kinds of fears. She was always so strong, and even though she was reaching the midpoint of her pregnancy, she had been taking it so well and she hadn't had any properly bad experiences so far. And this revelation came as a huge shock, and if he had known this was how she felt, he would never have left her earlier. Crap, he never would have met with Naomi if he had known. He stroked her arm and then her hair and placed a kiss to the edge of her mouth, 'Oh Karen, it's all going to be alright. I'm so sorry I left you by yourself. God, if I had known this was how you felt, then, oh I'm such an idiot...' he trailed off shaking his head in disbelief at how suddenly stupid he had been. She shook her head as well, 'No, no, this is my fault. If I hadn't been so overly protective and smothering then I wouldn't have driven you away.'

She looked up at him, her eyes locking with his, sapphire blue on emerald green, 'I'm so sorry Rob. I love you, and I'm so sorry.' He looked directly back at her, and gripped her forearm tightly, 'Listen to me Karen. You have nothing to be sorry for - absolutely nothing. I love you, I love you and there could never be anyone else who could take you away from me.' He leant down and placed a proper kiss to her lips, entwining their mouths together, melting seamlessly into one another. It had been a while since they had kissed this passionately, and so they kept the kiss continuing for a while. When he broke apart from her, he smiled down at her,

'I love you beautiful. Pregnancy hormones and all.' She playfully slapped him and sat up next to him and they just laid next to each other for a while, both their hands on her stomach, feeling the baby kicking for the very first time.


	4. Six Months

Six Months:

Lying down comfortably on the soft material green sofa in the left hand corner of her spacious living room, Karen lifted up her hand from her side and, propping her head up on two pillows so she could see beyond the bump, she removed the jar of pickles from on top of her large, billowing stomach and hastened to unscrew the lid so she could "dig in". She had somehow managed to fall asleep some hours previous with a jar of pickles balancing on her six month baby bump. It wasn't all surprising, being pregnant wasn't exactly a walk in the park, and now that she was slightly older than when she had had Jess and Harry, everything was just a little bit more complicated.

Getting to sleep was harder, getting up and cleaning and cooking (although her diet mostly consists now of pickles, ice cream and ketchup – sometimes all together) was harder than anticipated. But at least she didn't have to do it alone. When she had been pregnant with her two kids before, sure, Charlie had been there and all, but he hadn't been so overly protective and enthusiastic that she couldn't breathe, whereas Rob was there at every call, every false alarm, every sad scene in a movie, every little hiccup that upset her extremely fragile temperament. He was here to hold her hand, brush back her hair from her face when she had a bad case of morning sickness, kiss her forehead, temple, cheek, fingers and belly whenever she was feeling low.

He talked to her stomach every evening when they were lying in bed, telling his unborn baby of all the adventures that he had been on, telling them about their brothers and sister and how their mummy and daddy had come to be together. She always laughed at this, telling him if her child had a penchant for being both charming yet totally unruly, she was blaming him entirely. She hoped they had picked up some of Rob's charisma though, and his caring and insanely gentle nature.

Karen was wearing her bright scarlet red jumper, and a pair of Rob's old trackie bottoms. It wasn't the most fetching choice of apparel, but she had a habit of wearing his clothes. Her feet were still slightly chilly, but she was wearing thick furry socks, and her toenails were visible through the many holes. Her hair was tied back in a very loose ponytail, and many clips were pinned in to keep her fringe out of the way of her eyes. Her make-up was on, but was very simple and weak and she looked pretty washed out.

But at the current moment, Karen was having a slight difficulty with undoing the God-damned lid on the jar of pickles. Some berk had packed this so tightly; how the hell is anyone supposed to open this damn thing? she thought angrily, twisting the rim with all of her might, attempting to wrench the barrier from her food away entirely. Sitting up now, quickly putting one hand on her stomach to support, she tugged on the lid, putting her nails underneath the rim to try and pull it up. However, when no success came of this method, Karen stormed into the kitchen, grabbed a knife and plunged it through the jar's lid, trying any desperate method to open it. If she hadn't been so hungry, and craving pickles with an insane fevour, then she would've given up by now. She pulled the kitchen knife back out and accidentally slid it across her index finger, causing a miniscule cut to appear. Swearing angrily, she chucked the knife into the sink, picked up the pickles in the glass jar and threw it at one of the walls, causing the glass to shatter and the pickles to come tumbling out of it like she wanted. But she was too tired to do anything now, or try to care, so Karen slowly sunk carefully back into her position on the sofa, closed her eyes, over reactive tears forming and slipping down her face in annoyance, and quietly nodded off to sleep, her baby gently kicking against her hand resting protectively on her stomach

X – X – X

'Alright everyone, I'm off!' Rob yelled cheerily, picking up his dark grey blazer from the back of his chair and grabbing a sheaf of papers in one hand, stuffing them clumsily into his briefcase. Rob, who was now officially a teacher, had replaced Tom's job in the English department whilst Tom went on to become acting headmaster until the end of the school year when the LA would pick a brand new head teacher. Many of the staff and pupils didn't really like or approve of this idea; Karen had lost her job first (which most people were still absolutely fuming about), and everyone was getting used to Tom, who was surprisingly great at this whole headmaster thing, and they didn't want some "crappy old jerk" coming and taking over.

Janeece ran from her desk and gave Rob a hug as usual, before saying, 'Give Karen my love.' Rob's eyes twinkled mischievously before he bent down and whispered in her ear, 'Don't worry, I will.' Janeece pulled a childish face, but Rob chuckled slightly before continuing, now loud enough for everyone to hear, with, 'Is it okay if I bring Karen in tomorrow? She really wants to see you guys again, and how the school's getting on. Ooh and she had something to tell you all,' he added mysteriously, tapping his nose secretively. He and Karen had decided pretty early on that they weren't going to tell anyone about the pregnancy until her third trimester when all her morning sickness had abated and she was feeling a lot calmer – most of the time. All the staff nodded and smiled and Rob went to leave before someone tugged on his arm and said,

'What's she got to tell us?' It was Janeece, obviously, being nosy as per usual. But Rob was rather patient with her and just tapped his nose once more, again in secrecy, and muttered, 'You'll find out tomorrow,' before walking from the staff room to the main exit of the school.

He knew that Karen was bored, being stuck at home all day, and he had a sneaky suspicion that she was a little bit jealous of the fact that he got to come here every day. Smiling sadly, he pulled his car door open, stuffed his random items in and steadily drove home, the calming and soothing tones of Katherine Jenkins seeping from the stereo. This music was good for Karen's stress levels, and he quite enjoyed it, singing along to all the words. When he finally reached his destination, Rob pulled out his files, locked the car automatically (which he quite liked – it was cool) and went to the front door of his and Karen's home. They lived together now; it was just easier and more suitable. He was about to ring the doorbell, but then a sudden thought struck him. Checking his watch, Rob saw the time to be around half five, and Karen always had a nap around five, so she might already be asleep. And he wasn't going to wake her, not after last time (a very life-threatening experience in which Karen had thrown a bouncy ball, a rubber and an alarm clock at him for waking her up).

He, as silently as possible, unlocked the front door, laid down his stuff in the cupboard under the stairs, and kicked his shoes off in there too whilst he was at it. He was going to go and check their bedroom for her, but he caught sight of her sleeping form in the living room and hushed the door, as an inanimate object, as it creaked open due to his weak push. He walked over to her, planted a small kiss in her forehead and whispered, 'Hey beautiful,' in her ear, but then he turned and saw the pickles. He quickly picked up the large shards of glass, lurking dangerously near where Karen would usually put her feet when she woke up, and tutted at her sleeping body; she was totally oblivious to the fact that her boyfriend was home. He mopped up the juice and carefully dumped the pickles in a bin before going to sit in the living room.

Karen was half awake when he walked in, her eyes blinking and flickering, her voice groggy when she spoke, 'Hey Rob,' she muttered, yawning widely behind her hand. He went and sat on the small bit of sofa left next to her head and stroked her hair, 'Karen, why on earth were there pickles on and around the wall?'

Weirdly, she started to cry again, almost uncontrollably and he held onto her when she muttered out, choking on her words, 'I couldn't get the lid off…and it was really annoying and I got really…angry.' He understood that her emotions were all over the place, and she was glad that he knew; any other man would've called her a crazy cow, but he knew that she was feeling a little scrambled at the moment. He was definitely going to be here for her, for every second that he was needed. He let Karen lay her head on top of his knees and he callously brushed her hair with his fingertips, smiling all the while, gently pressing his lips to hers every now and then. When she had completely calmed down, her eyes glaring not so furiously in red anymore, he put a reassuring hand on her belly and loudly chimed, 'How's my little sweetheart been doing today?' Karen yawned again from exhaustion, but quietly muttered in response, 'I've been alright.' Rob stared down at her awkwardly, but she frantically added, 'Kidding, the baby's been fine,' she said, feeling the need to explain her joke.

He laughed drily and whispered, 'You're not "sweetheart" Karen, you're "beautiful" in every sense of the word.' She sat up next to him and wrapped both arms around his waist. He put an arm around her shoulders, but kept the other hand on her belly, 'You ready to go back in tomorrow and tell everyone?' She nodded her head nervously, and yawned for the third time. 'Sleepy, eh?' he asked concernedly, and she nodded again.

Although she was six months pregnant, and weighing quite a bit more than usual, Rob, with a broad grin spread across his face, quickly pulled Karen into his arms like she was made of nothing heavier than feathers and carried her extraordinarily gently and cautiously up the stairs. He tucked her into their bed, wrapping warm covers around her. He kissed her on the forehead, and brushed a few stray bits of her hair from her face. 'I'll bring you some food later beautiful,' he murmured in her ear, but she was already fast asleep; dreaming, wishing, praying, hoping and thinking about him, and also the expression on everyone's face when they saw her tomorrow. You could not deny that it was going to be horridly entertaining.

He paused at the doorway, leaning a casual arm on the frame. He turned around to glance over her gorgeous sleeping form, the heavy quilt moulding around her ever increasing pregnant baby bump. He smiled in content; everything is so perfect right now that he can hardly believe it. He's living with the woman he loves, he's starting a family (albeit a bit later than he would've expected) with her, and now he gets to be with her and cherish her every single day.

Karen's hair was splayed across the four pillows on their bed, and her arms and hands were bent out across the mattress. Her chest heaved up and down with each of her steady and deep breaths, and her feet twitched ever so slightly when they were hanging out of the sheets. He gently brushed a finger against the small black velvet box in his jeans pocket (he is a teacher – but the jeans stay) and smiled ever more widely. He was going to ask her soon, and he really prayed to God that she would accept. From when they first met, and from the time of their first kiss, Rob knew that he would marry Karen one day, no matter how long it took for him to "woo" her. He knew that he was in love with her, and he wanted to proclaim his love for everyone to see. But it would have to wait for a few days, or even weeks, for the proposal; maybe revealing to all the students and staff at Waterloo Road that Karen was pregnant was going to be enough for one day. None of us know, he pondered reflectively, when or how or why or where we're going to fall in love, but we all do at some point. And for Rob and Karen, it had just come a little bit later on in life than originally presumed. Rob flicked the light off, although it was still bright outside, and walked down the stairs, a smile on his lips and love, for her and his unborn child, embedded deep in his heart.

X – X – X

The staff room was busy and bustling, full to the brim with caffeine coated teachers woken from their slumbers by both their beckon to work, and the fact that Karen would be here any minute. After Rob's intensely thought-provoking hint yesterday, everyone was buzzing and gossiping about what it was that they had to say. Janeece ran around, desperately trying to make as many people look cheery (which was hard work with this motley crew) and encouraging. They were all rather pleased that Karen was coming back, but it was a Thursday morning and everyone was absolutely exhausted. Thursday's were rubbish, still two more days left in this hell hole until the weekend. Janeece ran down the corridor to quickly look out the window and all the murmurs were harshly interrupted when she returned to the room and yelled,

'Oh my God! They're here! Everyone get ready!' A silence descended on the room and every hastened to sit down and look natural and happy. Several minutes passed, but no one moved; everyone was too excited. The door gently creaked open and everyone's breaths hitched and stopped as the two walked in, Karen looking all too like she was…

'Mrs Fisher, are you pregnant?' Janeece questioned loudly, interrupting everyone's trains of thoughts. The look of sheer admonishment was plain upon everyone's faces and each member of staff had their gaze fixed on Karen. Karen looked extremely nervous for several moments and she twisted her fingers around each other before Rob quickly took one of them within her own and squeezed it encouragingly. He smiled briefly at her and Karen beamed wobbily before turning back to Janeece and replying wittily with, 'I would presume so Janeece. Anyway, have you all missed me?'

Tom, who was currently sat in his office, twiddling his thumbs over some extremely large amount of paperwork, heard the chatter dying outside and curiously rose from his chair from behind his desk and popped his head around the door. Upon seeing Karen, he beamed rosily and then caught sight of her bump. It was quite pronounced seeing as she was wearing a dark blue slimmed t-shirt, and she looked quite tired, but still as radiant as ever. 'Alright Karen?' he asked casually, and Karen nodded confidently, smiling all the while.

Everyone suddenly started talking again, the whole collaboration of staff beginning to crowd around Karen and her bump, everyone asking questions and hugging her and introducing themselves if they were new. Rob gently let go of Karen's hand, cast a reassuring smile in her direction and headed over to Tom.

'Nice mate,' Tom said, half sarcastically. Rob smirked, 'She's never been happier really. We've had the odd morning sickness and breakdown, but apart from that it's all okay.' Tom nodded along, like the Churchill dogs in the back of cars and replied with, 'How many months along is she?'

'Just gone twenty five weeks, so over six months,' Rob explained carefully, pausing to tot up the time properly, 'And we're living together, so it's all brilliant at the moment.'

Karen was standing awkwardly in the midst of around twenty members of staff; some old, recognizable faces like Grantly and Eleanor, and some new ones whom she had not yet learnt the names of. People were shaking her hand and hugging her left, right and centre, and after a few minutes, she just had to sit down to breathe properly. She glanced meaningfully towards Rob, and he quickly departed from Tom's side, rushed over to her and gently cleared everyone out of the way so she could sit down. Karen slumped into the chair, leaning comfortably against it, her hands resting on her stomach. Most of the staff backed off, now satisfied that they knew what was going on, and went back to their marking and work, but Janeece timidly approached, a cup of tea in her hands, 'Here you go Mrs Fisher,' she said brightly, handing Karen the tea and plonking herself down on the chair next to her. Oh God, Karen thought, she had a headache enough as it was right now…

'You know, when I was preggers, the last three months were awful. I had morning sickness like every other day, and I got such bad cramps sometimes that I thought I was going into labour a few times…' Janeece said enthusiastically, waving her hands around in explanation. Karen groaned, blocking out Janeece's continuing derogatory stories of her own pregnancy until someone waltzed up behind her and whispered in her ear, 'Having fun Karen?'

She swivelled her shoulders around to find Rob kneeling next to her, and she quickly kissed him before she muttered inaudibly, 'Yeah. I'm having fun with Janeece's story telling.' He rolled his eyes at her and kissed her again, 'Hey beautiful, let's go home, eh?'


	5. Eight Months: Part One

Eight Months: Part One

He steadily slid down onto one knee. His hands and palms were sweaty and his grip on the small black box was weak, and he was trembling. He took an enormously deep breath and fumbled to unclasp and open up the box, revealing the hidden gem within. Diverting his attention upwards, his voice quivering with a mixture of both terror and delight, he asked, with false confidence in his voice, 'Karen Fisher, love of my life, will you marry me?' He hesitated for a second, there was a moment of confusing silence, anxiety flooding his senses, but he then stood up, closed the box, hit himself gently on the side of the head and muttered, 'No, that sounds way too corny.' He evaluated the way he had asked, but it just didn't work. He put his hands on the back of his head after having replaced the box back into his jeans pocket and groaned out in frustration. He just couldn't find the right words. Billions of men had done it before, the words of brilliance written down by love authors and poets throughout the ages, but he could not find the right words with which to ask her to marry him. It was such a simple question, originally starting with just four words and a question mark, but over time, aided by many a tragic romance story or indeed a cheesy rom-com, the expectations for the perfectly fitted proposal had risen higher than the pole needed for Linford Christie to limbo underneath.

He knew that she both cared and did not care about the way he asked her. He knew she wanted it to be special, something original to her, dedicated and thoughtful, and in the perfect romantic setting. However, he also understood that as long as he asked her with that smile on his face, and that twinkle in his eyes, and he promised to love her forever and ever, she didn't mind what he said. She knew he loved her, it was more obvious than a whale in the middle of a shopping centre, and all Karen wanted was to live happily ever after, just like the perfect fairy tales. But still, he wanted to do it well, something that they would both remember for the rest of their lives together.

He breathed out again, the mounting pressure of this evening sending waves and shivers of anticipation up his back. He hadn't thought about what would happen if she declined - he hadn't particularly wanted to think about what would happen in that turn of events. If she said no, well, it would be a bit embarrassing, eh? Bit awkward if he thought about it. But he erased these thoughts straight from his head, he was pretty confident that she would accept. He pulled the small velvet box from his pocket, opened it, and smiled down at the ring inside. Even though he was a man, a strange species not entirely known for having the greatest taste in jewellery, it was one of the most beautiful things most people on this planet had ever seen. A golden band, pure and shimmering, with the most clear-cut, translucent, shining, sparkling bright blue sapphire anyone had ever seen. And, to top off the sheer radiance and beauty emanating from this gorgeous piece of glittering charm, he had had the ring engraved, with just a few simple words: 'You are so beautiful to me.' He hoped that she would like it (reason number one being the considerable chunk of cash it had yanked from his pay check) and he hoped that the evening would go without a hitch.

Taking a look at himself in the mirror, and deciding that he looked a little too casual for what he was about to do, Rob pulled off his maroon polo and replaced it with a blue and white checked shirt. He quickly styled his hair with a few flicks of the hand and then stared into the mirror again. 'Not too shabby,' he murmured to himself, patting his cheeks lightly. He slipped into a pair of Italian leather shoes, which he had to admit pinched his toes quite a lot, and exited their bedroom. He quickly popped the ring in his pocket once more, and headed down the stairs. On the way down the landing his gaze latched onto the room that was once Jess Fisher's domain, next to the bathroom. Smiling broadly, Rob pushed open the sunshine painted door and entered the room. It had once been dark purple and luxurious, with cream shag pile carpets and such like - a very dramatic teenage girl's room. Now though, the walls were painted sky blue, a colour said to be both calming and tranquil, and instead of there being a large double bed, there was an oak framed cot, decorated with a quick splash of green paint, a neutral colour for their baby. Gone were the huge glaring wardrobes and dark and heavy curtains, there was now a light brown chest of drawers (already half filled with clothes from the baby shower). The blind was white material, which painted upon it were the words, 'Waterloo Road.' It had been a little bit of an art project that Rob had asked the kids to participate in, where everyone in the school had contributed to painting even the smallest part of the blind. The finished effect was rather beautiful, different colours streaming in the background, the school's title blazing proudly out, and Karen was a little bit in love with the idea ever since Rob had suggested it and then brought the completed article home.

Trailing his fingers over the huge variety and selection of stuffed toys and animals, Rob beamed. He loved this room, even though it wasn't yet inhabited, it just had this lovely atmosphere that made you want to relax and be joyful. It was just under five weeks until the kid actually arrived, just thirty three days, a month and a bit, however you wanted to put it. Rob went to leave the room before he spotted a feature that he had never seen before on the chest of drawers. There was a framed photograph, evidently taken by Jess, Harry or Aiden, of him and Karen, only around two months ago. Just the two (well technically three) of them, lying on their bed in full clothing. Both Karen's hands were resting protectively upon her bump, but her eyes were just on Rob, who was currently feeding her strawberry ice cream of the end of a spoon. He instantly loved this picture the moment his saw it, it pretty much described their relationship: love, comfort, humour, and, most recently of all, a hell of a load of ice cream.

X – X – X

Karen led down across the sofa, a wet cloth smoothed across her forehead, a small desperate attempt to bring down her temperature. Her arms and legs were sprawled out, one leg hanging off the edge of the couch. Her eyes were shut tight and her fists were clenched together, as were her teeth. She kicked at a pillow, trying to relieve some of her pain, and she growled in agony, but then it suddenly dissipated, just like every other time. Calming down slightly, she opened her eyes tentatively, silently hoping that Rob wasn't stood in here watching her, and she sighed out heavily. She had been experiencing these really bad cramps all day, and they were just getting worse and worse with every one that came along. Trying now to stand up, Karen struggled to get to her feet and then balance, and fell back onto the sofa, the heaviness of her stomach weighing her down quite considerably. Ever since the baby had grown past months, it had been a bit of a struggle to do the simplest things due to the fact that Karen's stomach was growing incredibly fast. She had actually gotten so huge so fast that Rob received a short slap around the head when he said that she looked rather like a "beach ball". As much as she loved being pregnant, that fascinating sensation that there was something living and growing inside of you, she was quite ready to "pop" as it were, and she was really rather looking forward to when the baby was to arrive, in just over a month's time. They were going out tonight; to celebrate that seven months exactly had passed since the day she told him about her pregnancy. Karen was just so overjoyed that he was still here - she had expected him to run a mile when he found out, but he took it better than she had ever hoped for, and he was still here, even after she had clocked him in the face a few times over the last couple of months (to be fair, he did say she did not only look like a beach ball, but had a resemblance to a "humpback whale"). They were going back to their Italian restaurant, the place where they had shared their first dinner date, their first kiss, and it just seemed fitting that they should go back.

Karen's thoughts were jolted again by the sudden arrival of returning pain in the depths of her stomach again. She tried to sink back into the back of the sofa, and she breathed in and out really heavily, trying to abate the pain, but it did no good. She grabbed hold of a pillow and clutched onto it, sinking her fingers and nails deep into it, having half a mind to tear it apart. Single tears rolled down her cheeks, and, for the first time that day, Karen realized that this might not be just stomach cramps. But the baby wasn't due for another month; it was probably just another false alarm. Ignoring the worrying voice in the back of her head telling her to panic, Karen sat in agony until the pain went again and she stood up and inspected herself in the living room mirror. Rob had been upstairs in their bedroom getting ready for the past forty minutes, and so Karen had changed in the bathroom and then come down here and watched a tape of Loose Women.

Looking at herself now though, Karen realized that Rob had a point when he described her as being akin to a beach ball. She was wearing her knee length red dress, with full long sleeves, that used to be baggy, but was now skin tight against her giant rounded stomach. She had bought it when she was around five months pregnant, and although it had been big on her back then, she and the baby had both grown since then. She looked so big, Karen thought sadly, but she was immensely proud of her bump. It was a strange feeling, but hey, she was pregnant, she was allowed to act without the realms of reality and normality.

Karen heard Rob thudding down the stairs and so, quickly patting down her hair and wiping her eyes to remove any traces of tears (no matter how small), she ventured out into the hallway to meet with him. She smiled happily as she caught sight of him, and slipped awkwardly into her black heels. He walked up to her, and beamed brightly.

'Was it you that put the photo up in the baby's room?' he asked suspiciously and she nodded contentedly in response. She simply adored that picture to the point where she had had it printed to such a size that she could put it in a keychain on her keys. He grinned and pulled her into a hug, albeit rather a pathetic one as he could not reach far past her enormous stomach. 'God, any bigger Karen and they'll want you as a contender on The Biggest Loser,' Rob joked dryly, although the smirk was wiped from his face when Karen punched him half playfully and then half viciously on the arm.

She snarled sarcastically at him and then commented, 'Stop making jokes about my weight or I'll sit on you; and then we'll see who's laughing.' He made a fearful look for a fleeting second, but then opened the front door and chivalrously bowed, 'Your rusty old car awaits my lady.' She winked at him before gently tottering down the driveway towards Rob's battered old Vauxhall. He quickly held onto her when she stumbled in her four inch heels (completely unsuitable he noted, although he didn't mention it, he would like to be still alive for when his kid was born) and wrapped an arm around her waist to support her. When they reached the car, he again unlocked the door for her, made sure that she was in carefully and strapped in, before he walked around to the driver's seat and put the keys in the ignition. The car did not roar to life, more like a timid meow, but it worked and so with that the car jostled forwards on the six minute journey to the restaurant. The stereo was turned on a low volume, but Karen hastened to turn it up when a familiar song popped on.

Grant my last request just let me hold you, don't shrug your shoulders, lay down beside me.

'Do you remember this song?' Karen asked dreamily, her mind wandering to the first night when she stayed over at his. Nothing happened like that, but she had slept in his arms for the first time. He looked puzzled for a second, 'I thought you were asleep when that happened.' She smiled knowingly at him and then looked forwards, seeing the hill that they had to descend in order to reach the town.

'You need to go into first,' she advised professionally, as Rob's hand dithered over the gearstick. He looked through the windscreen at the hill and then said, 'No, I need to go into fifth.' He went to change gear before Karen retorted with, 'No, you need to go into first when you go downhill.'

'No, it's fifth. Karen, I think I know how to drive my car,' he said scathingly, making the mistake of her angering her ever so slightly. 'Just because you're a man it doesn't mean you know best!' she said angrily, and he rolled his eyes at her before immediately responding with, 'It's got nothing to do with gender, just in this instance, I know best!' She glared at him and in a daring tone, as they descended slowly down the hill, she suggested, 'Fine, put it into fifth, then we'll see what happens.'

Rob, gleeful at his winning the argument, quickly redirected the gearstick to fifth gear and continued down the hill, mocking her slightly for being in the wrong, before the car jolted to a stop and stalled. He didn't want to, but he looked over at Karen in embarrassment, to find her with half her fist in her mouth, trying to prevent her from laughing. This theory didn't really work as a small giggle erupted from her lips and soon enough she was laughing loudly.

'Look at us,' she said happily, 'Arguing like an old married couple.' He nodded delightfully, hopefully in twenty or so years' time they would be. She leaned in towards him and kissed him quickly on the lips in apology for starting an argument. He quickly restarted the car, but as they drove along, Karen piped up with, 'Told you to put it in first.'

X – X – X

The waitress, who they had become surprisingly familiar with over the past year or so, directed the now not arguing couple over to their usual table in the corner of the room. She smiled and handed them both a menu and made small talk with the couple about when the child was due whilst Karen and Rob decided what they wanted to eat. Rob ordered the gourmet burger and chips, and asked for a salad (hey, he was trying to be healthy), but Karen went for the safe option of spaghetti carbonara. The waitress obediently took their order, brought over their drinks, but then vanished to go and serve another table. The time was nearing ten, and so when the food arrived, Karen was absolutely ravenous. Literally breathing her food in, she finished rather quickly and so spent the rest of the time when Rob was eating trying to pick up the ice in the bottom of her coca cola glass with a straw. She was such a little kid at heart, Rob thought fondly, as Karen dropped one of the ice cubes into her dish.

When Rob had too finished his meal, they went to order a pudding, when their waitress brought over two rather delicious looking chocolate tarts and placed one in front of either person. 'Congratulations,' she said brightly, and began to walk away when Rob quickly said, very honestly, 'Sorry, but this isn't our order.' Karen kicked him under the table and shot him a look saying _Free chocolate cake, don't complain_, but the waitress just smiled and then walked away, leaving Rob confused. Karen took her time with the pudding, seeing as it was quite rich although rather stunning in both taste and decoration. However, they both finished their portions, and no amount of tea and small talk could any longer delay the question that Rob had to ask. He pulled the pocket out of his pocket and rested it on the end of his knee. He looked down at the floor, in a last ditch attempt to practise what he was going to say.

Little did he know that Karen's cheeks were growing slightly red, and the pain was returning after an hour and a half or so of absence. And they were returning with a vengeance. She was going to be sick, she knew it. She knew they were contractions, she thought silently, and her face creased into an expression of pain. She barely managed to whisper out, although her voice sounded stronger than she had thought it would, 'Excuse me a second Rob, I need the loo.' She rose from her seat and walked as casually as possible to the loos, leaving a just ready to propose Rob at their table.


	6. Eight Months: Part Two

Eight Months: Part Two

Rob checked his watch concernedly, relieving himself of around five seconds of utter, delirious boredom, and saw that over thirteen minutes had passed since Karen had hastened to rush to the bathroom. He fumbled around with the ring, throwing it a few centimetres from hand to hand, being careful not to let it slide from his shaky grip. He had just been about to ask her when she has basically jilted and generally postponed his question by clearly stating that she needed the loo. Perfect timing, he had mused, as he had watched his hopefully soon to be fiancée stumble away, one hand on her strenuously large stomach. It had been exactly seven months since Karen had told him about everything, and he had brought her to their restaurant (so named purely because they were the main customers, probably providing the place with over half its profit) to kind of celebrate this fact – and also the news that their baby was due in just under six weeks. He smiled at the thought. He was already a parent, and at forty six it was perhaps a little less attractive than the idea was to a younger man, but the excitement that was surging through his system with every kick, every little movement of his child was almost unbearable. He wanted nothing more than to just live in perfect happiness and harmony with the woman he loved so greatly, and with their child.

But looking at his watch again, anxiety was beginning to grow and expand in the pit of his stomach. He understood that women always took longer in the bathroom to reapply makeup and talk to any random person who happened to be there at the same time, but was it really necessary for Karen to have taken fifteen minutes already? Rob decided to give it another five minutes before he would go looking for her – who knows, she might have just been preparing herself for his proposal. Rob wasn't exactly the most subtle man in the world, she did have a niggly sort of feeling that it might be tonight.

In the next five minutes, Rob's mind casually pondered over three main things, the first of which being the ever important baby names. He and Karen had spent weeks now trying to find two names (one if it was a boy, one if it was a girl – they hadn't wanted to ruin it by finding out, they wanted it to be a surprise) and they had finally come up with Rosamund or Kristian. Rob personally did not mind if it was a boy or a girl, but he was secretly hoping for a little girl that he could spoil rotten. The next thing that he took time to consider was the two generously large chocolate puddings that had arrived on their table. The butler had brought them over, offering congratulations to the bewildered couple who attempted to persuade the waiter that it wasn't their order, but in the end, Rob had the sneakiest suspicion that it might've had something to do with Aiden and Jess (he had told the two about his plans for this evening). And the third thought that had crossed Rob's mind was how different everything was going to be once their little baby came into the world. It was definitely going to be a challenge, but he was ready to embrace it and he was pretty sure that Karen was too. Everything was going to get complicated, with him trying to hold down his job, and also be there for every call and shout of distress from Karen, which he had received a lot of recently. But he knew that she was already a fantastic mother, and would proceed to be, and now the only difficult job was living up to her standard. This was a kind of new venture, but one that he was ready and completely willing to participate in.

The décor in this restaurant had not changed in the past year and a half. They came here at least twice a month, normally to satisfy Karen's immense cravings, but just as a couple-y kind of thing. It was a small place, with low candle lights and refreshing yet tasteful and original displays of artwork.

Nervously checking his watch once more, Rob quietly stood from his chair, told the waitress that he would be back in a few moments, and casually made his way over to the bathrooms. He was only slightly frazzled, and feeling a bit embarrassed that he had just spent twenty minutes looking like a bit of a loner, but, of course, he wasn't going to hold it against her – she would have her reasons for taking such a long time. Rob stopped at the entrance to the ladies and swept his eyes around the restaurant. Seeing as the time was just gone eleven, the whole place was empty apart from him and Karen, and so there would be no hindrances or humiliating reprimands from staff or customers if he went in. Swallowing a bit of his dignity, Rob gently pushed the door open and walked into the scarily pink bathroom. At first, he saw nothing out of the ordinary that was glaring out at him like a police siren, but once he strolled around the corner to the wash basins, his whole evening turned upside down and every other way imaginable apart from straight.

Karen was hunched over one of the numerous sinks, tears rolling down her cheek, a small trail of vomit still trawling down her chin into the sink from her lips. Her eyes had lost nearly all colour, and her skin looked so white that it frightening. Her lips were cracked and slowly turning a violent shade of blue, and her hands that were clutching into the sides of the sink were trembling. Her brows were creased into a horrible expression of agony, and there was a line on her forehead where she had scrunched her eyes up so tightly, trying to block out the pain. Down the front of her lovely red dress was evidence enough that she had been sick, and when Rob saw this, he almost did the same. Instead, sensing, obviously, that something was very wrong, he ran over to her and put an arm around her hefty form to support her.

'Hey Karen, you okay beautiful?' he asked worriedly, horrifying thoughts about what might've happened sending cold shivers up and down his spine. Her eyes slowly eased open, and when she spoke, her voice was a fragile whisper.

'It hurts Rob, it really, really hurts,' she moaned out in pain, clutching wildly at her stomach, like she was trying to rip her flesh open. He ran and grabbed a bunch of tissue paper, wetted it and dabbed it on her searing hot forehead, trying to abate some of her temporary fever, but she pushed him away, tottered quickly into a cubicle and emptied her stomach once again. She coughed loudly afterwards and Rob, who was standing behind her, holding back her hair, finally realized that this wasn't supposed to be happening right now. When she had had a few minutes to breath, Rob carefully and cautiously led her back over to the basin, where she cried out pitifully, her tears splashing against the basin, creating a hollow echo in the din. Rob hugged her reassuringly, and whispered in her ear, 'Come on Karen, I'm taking you to the hospital.' She whipped her head around and quickly murmured in response, 'No. No, I'm fine, just feeling a bit sick. There's no need to go to the hospital because that would suggest there's something wrong which there isn't,' she stammered out, desperately trying to make him see her logic. If she went to hospital, it would be like condemning her into misery, suggesting that something was awful was happening, and she could just ignore it for the time being by staying here and pretending that it was okay, 'Really, I'm fine.' He looked her in the eyes, and saw her pain, but also saw her independence and confidence and nodded his head, agreeing to her terms (against his better judgement). He wasn't going to be some prissy child minder, trying to tell her what to do. But that was when a whole other issue kicked off.

It started as a few drops at first, nothing to worry about, but as the blood began to pour relentlessly from Karen's nose, Rob's levels of anxiety rose to a whole new level that he had never explored before. She tried to spit the blood out of her mouth as it drenched her lips, turning them scarlet red, and Rob was suddenly faced with a decision. Leaving her by the basin, hanging her head over the sink, letting the gallons of blood seep mercilessly from her body, Rob yelled, 'I'm getting my phone, and I'm taking you to hospital!' He sprinted through the restaurant, placed a fifty on the table to cover the meal, grabbed his jacket and mobile and Karen's coat and bag and ran outside to his car and pulled it up outside. The staff in the restaurant tried to help after he quickly explained the situation, but he just asked them to phone the hospital and tell them he was bringing someone in who required urgent medical attention.

Rob ran, this time completely unashamedly, back into the ladies restroom and almost roared out in horror and shock when he saw Karen slumped against the wall, her blood smeared all over her face, her eyes shut and her body broken. Her breathing was inconsistent and inaudible, and her irises were enlarged to such a degree that for a fleeting second he thought she was dead…

'Karen, Karen, wake up,' he said furiously, trying not to let his impending tears run down his face. He shook her hand and wrist and at one point he even splashed a tiny bit of water onto her forehead before she callously flickered her eyes open, this action obviously requiring an extraordinary amount of energy, and she locked eyes with him. 'Rob,' she breathed. Hearing his own name haunted him like a ghost film, 'Help, it hurts,' she breathed out in sheer agony, and she cried out in distress and tried to roll into a ball on the floor. This was breaking his heart right now, and regardless of the fact that he had just phoned an ambulance, Rob carefully picked Karen up into his arms and carried her to the car. Her blood was spreading all over his shirt, but he didn't care about that. What he did care about was that Karen was still bleeding, her body was still twisting around in agony and every movement she made was like a little spasm, like if she tried any harder to keep awake she would just pass out.

After what seemed like an eternity had passed, Rob finally reached his car. Almost wrenching the handle off, he yanked the passenger door open. He carefully strapped Karen in, treating her like a crumbling piece of china, and kissed her on the forehead. 'It's going to be okay Karen, you're going to be okay,' he whispered fleetingly in her ear, and she only moaned out in response, her body and strength weakening with every crucial second. He shut her door and ran over to the driver's seat and started the engine. He drove as quickly as possible through the almost deserted streets to the hospital, which was just over two miles away, a five minute drive, if that that. His gaze was only half on the road however, the rest was on Karen. She was trying to stop her nose bleeding by pressing almost an entire toilet roll to her face but to no avail as the blood just kept seeping through the thin, flimsy material. Her skin was whiter than snow or any other weather or whatever and she was so close to knocking herself unconscious that he could not stand to see her in such anguish and torment. Tears rolled seamlessly down both of their faces, and Rob's gaze was suddenly ripped away from the road when Karen started to convulse and shiver and shake uncontrollably. The tissue fluttered from her spasming hands and her eyes rolled in their sockets, and he almost screeched to a stop. Her back arched wildly as he removed his seat belt and clambered over to her side of the car, and he gripped her hand and tried to shush her, stroking her cheek softly. He sniffed back litres of tears and shakily whispered, 'Karen, you're going to be okay. Please calm down.' He quickly kissed her forehead, but she was longer responsive or conscious, 'Karen, it's going to be alright beautiful. It's going to be alright, just hang on a few more seconds.' He kissed her again and hurtled down the streets until he pulled up beside the hospital. He stopped the car, slammed his door shut and graciously pulled Karen into his arms. She was still out cold, and her body was only trembling slightly. She was unresponsive to his cries of his reassurance; she just led in his arms and bled. She wouldn't stop bleeding. The blood made him want to hurl, but he kept running until he reached the main reception area of A&E where two doctors were stood in anticipation of the couple's arrival. When Rob came running into the room, a stretcher on a bed quickly arrived and he gently laid Karen down on it and walked alongside her as they rolled her into one of the room. The doctors worked efficiently, harmlessly inserting a drip into her arm and placing an oxygen mask to her face. A nurse attempted to stem the bleeding from her nose, but it quickly stopped of its own accord when she was lying down. Rob knelt by her bedside, clutching her hand, fearing for her life, tears absentmindedly flowing down his face, pouring over his lips, the drops of liquid like harsh ice slamming against his face.

Once the initial panic was resolved, an atmosphere of calm descended upon the room. The two doctors walked up to Rob, who stood out of manners, and introduced themselves. One was tall and blonde, but his face was lined and weary, like he had seen too much that was like this, although he could've only have been around thirty, and the other was shorter and a lot younger with strong bouncing curls. The blonde spoke, his tone soothing to hear,

'Hello, I'm Doctor Anderson, and this is my intern Doctor Roberts. Are you family?'

'Yes,' Rob quickly replied (there was no way he was leaving her side until he was sure she was one hundred percent okay), 'Yes, I'm her fiancée.' The doctors nodded and consulted each other again before Doctor Anderson professionally continued with his diagnosis, 'How many months pregnant is she?'

Rob took all of two seconds to reply, 'Almost eight months: just gone thirty one weeks.' The doctors conferred once again and Rob diverted his attention back to Karen. His hot fresh tears spilled down his cheeks onto her face and he stroked her cheek and kissed her again, 'Please wake up Karen. Please wake up. Don't do this, not now, don't leave me,' he begged her silently, trying to will her eyes open and for her to be okay and normal again. He clutched both her hands and half hugged her, and her eyelids quivered open once more. Such delight was in his heart that he almost didn't hear her whisper, 'Rob, I love you. I'm sorry…'

But he did hear it. He pressed his lips to hers and quickly murmured, not wasting any of the time that she was awake for, 'You've got nothing to be sorry for. I need to ask you something anyway,' he added. She looked at him weakly and tried to raise an eyebrow, almost asking Is-right-now-the-time? But he knew that it had to be now, he might not get a chance to do it later. 'Karen, will you marry me?' he asked passionately, their eyes not breaking contact. Her lips moved into the flawless smile that he adored so much and they both managed to forget about everything when she whispered, 'Yes, of course I will.'

Their moment was ruined by the arrival of Doctor Anderson and his intern. The doctor had a grave look on his face and before Rob could even begin to ask what was wrong, he curtly informed them both, 'We need to take her in for a caesarean section, she has gone into premature labour. But it's like nothing I've ever seen before, she's had a really vicious reaction to it, like some sort of epileptic fit.' Rob just stared in shock, his hand limply holding onto Karen's, but became even more so when he motioned for the doctor to continue and he did so with, 'I'm sorry to have to tell you that there is the smallest chance that she will not survive due to the violent fit she experienced if she does go in for the operation. And if she does not proceed with the C-section, the baby will not survive either.'

It wasn't fair. Karen had had a hard life as it was, and it wasn't fair. Why did bad things always happen to good people? It was past the point of being remotely funny or ironic that it happened – it was just wrong and cruel. But there was still the slight possibility of the kid surviving, so they had to try. He couldn't let her go yet, there was no way in hell he was going to sit back and watch her die, but he had to make sure that his kid was okay. But believe him when he said it was, without a doubt, the hardest decision he had ever had to make, 'Please just make sure that they're okay.' The doctor nodded and three nurses appeared and started rolling Karen down the bright white corridor towards the surgery. Rob went with them, guilt surging through his system, his grip on Karen's hand never loosening. Just before she went in, she looked up at him, fear all over her expression and whispered, 'Rob, I'm scared.'

'Me too beautiful, me too. But it's going to be okay, you hear me? You're going to be fine,' he murmured and he pecked her forehead and squeezed her hand. He brushed away her tears and whispered, 'I love you beautiful, see you later.' And with that, they wheeled Karen off and Rob was left stood in a hospital coat, blood on his shirt, his heart shattering with the knowledge that in an hour's time, he may not have a baby, or he may not have a fiancée…


	7. Eight Months: Part Three

Eight Months: Part Three

She is flying. She frowns almost immediately, why is it that in every kind of dream state we find ourselves in, we are flying? Is it just something that everyone experiences, or is it something specific to her? Kind of like she was running away, running away from something horrific, something that she already knew, but didn't want to have it confirmed. Anyway, flying, the wind streaming through her hair and fingers, making her mouth go dry when she opened it to breathe, and her eyes streaming from the speed at which she is going. And then, suddenly, everything goes red. Just red. Bright, scarlet, raging red. Red was always her favourite colour, but it was strange. It could be comforting, you could be enveloped by it, or it could be cold and harsh and unforgiving. It could be a representation of pain. Something was wrong, she suddenly realized, why the hell was she talking about a colour like it was alive? A sense of tiredness quickly overcame her, and her eyes flickered shut. For a few moments, she slept in a blissful silence until she was harshly woken by a tingling sensation on her stomach. A rip appeared in her flesh with every second that passed and she shrieked and screamed and roared in shock. But it didn't hurt; it was like someone had numbed the pain beforehand. So she just watched as a huge cut appeared on her stomach, no blood spilling from the wound, and everything was completely terrifying and she felt so alone. That was, until, a hand grasped hers and she heard a faint whisper in the background, the voice muffled by layers of material,

'Karen. Karen, I love you. Karen, I'm here. Wake up beautiful, please wake up.' She wanted to fling her now shut eyes open, but it was like her eyelids were super glued shut. She wants to rip them open, but she just can't and she began to panic. She tries to wake herself up, because this is almost certainly a dream or something, but she can't move; it's like her head and shoulders are weighted down. Her heart is pounding wildly in her chest, and her blood is speeding through her veins, and sheer panic is rising inside of her. She's so scared: so, so scared. She can't open her eyes, she can't move, she can't reach out for his touch. She wants so desperately to cry, but she can't even do that. So she screams out, she screams his name in hope that he will hear her.

X – X – X

The chair he is perched upon, right on the very edge in anticipation, is hard and uncomfortable, one of those cheap plastic jobs. His whole body is feeling numb from the fact he has not moved from his current position for almost thirty hours, and his mouth is dry from a lack of nutrition. His eyes are stained with the remnants of a thousand tears, and although he stopped crying a few hours ago, his undried eyes are bloodshot and puffy. His skin is almost translucent, veins clearly visible, and his right hand is shaking, placed upon his knee. His left hand is clasped upon hers, and he entwines his fingers softly within hers. He strokes her hand and palm, but doesn't let go. He's not ever going to let go of her, no matter what the price may be. And this time, the price had been pretty high and he couldn't help but know that the feeling of guilt that was consuming him would never go away.

A nurse pushed the door open, a replacement for Karen's drip in her hands. She smiled sadly at Rob, but even though he was a "friendly guy" he could not bring himself to return it. Instead, he just concentrated on Karen's face. So pale, so innocent, so perfectly angelic, and yet so hopeless. Her eyes are ringed grey, and there are still a few specks of blood dotted around her nose and jaw. Her lips are cracked and peeling, and she is completely unaware of anything happening. She had been out of it since the operation, the operation that took place well over two days ago.

When they had first wheeled her out of the surgery, he ran, from the reception that he had half destroyed out of a complete loss of temper, over to her. The surgeon had told him that she would be fine, she just needed some rest. But wasn't thirty two hours enough rest for any one person? She had slipped into a coma, they told him, she wasn't going to get worse, but she wasn't going to get any better until she woke up. And they weren't sure about when that was going to be. When he asked about the baby, well, his world just shattered into a billion tiny fragments. There was nothing, apart from her, left for him anymore. And now he had to tell her about what had happened, and as much as he was dying for her to wake up, he was dreading it. He had no actual idea how she would react, but he knew it wouldn't be good: it was going to tear her apart.

All of a sudden, the heart rate on Karen's monitor began to spike and she started to quiver and shake again. She trembled and her eyelids fluttered open and then snapped shut once again, and he clutched her forearm to get her to calm down, 'Karen, stop it, please, it's scaring me. Please stop it,' he whispered anxiously into her ear whilst the nurse looked panicked and began walking towards the door to get a doctor. He tucked a bit of her fringe behind her ear and kissed her on the forehead, tears springing in his eyes. Every single time something like this happened, it hurt him as well. It hurt so damn much to watch her suffering, to watch her almost die like before. Her breathing slowed, and her heart rate decreased back to normal once more. He sighed out heavily and the nurse checked Karen's pulse before leaving the room.

'Why won't you wake up beautiful?' he asked aloud, stroking her head with his fingertips, 'Why won't you wake up?' But she couldn't answer him; it was like her lips were zipped together. She could hear every gentle word he spoke, but she could not reply, and he knew it might be some time before she could. But he could wait a million years for her, and he would as well. He had already waited thirty years…

_Karen was leant on a lamp-post, sighing out into the atmosphere, her small breaths making amusing little clouds of white air. She checked her watch, battered and second hand, and groaned in annoyance. Charlie was late for their date again, just like every other time. She kept making excuses for him, but she wasn't going to do it for much longer. She just couldn't be bothered to make an effort anymore. Why would no one just look out for her, look after her for a change, instead of her being the responsible one? The year is currently 1976, and behind a very young nineteen year old Karen, the brand new Queen song 'Bohemian Rhapsody' was blasting out of stereos in the pub. She so wanted to dance, she loved to dance. The time was almost half past eleven, and it was now beginning to rain. Her mascara began to run down her face, and her bright blonde hair was plastered to her face, dripping wet. She regretted not wearing a cardigan, like her mother had advised, instead choosing a really rather short black dress with a pair of very unsuitable six inch heels. She was shivering now, goose bumps running up and down her arms. Her eye make-up was heavy and alluring, and it was exactly that which made her crystal eyes catch his attention…_

_Rob Scotcher strolled happily down the street, ignoring the small drops of rain that was pattering against his skull. He whistled cheerily and went to take a shortcut down a small alleyway back to his house when he saw her. She looked the same age as him, maybe a year or two younger, and she looked absolutely frozen solid, wearing a dress that only just covered her behind. Even though he was very young, just turned twenty, he was still a perfect gentleman and was very chivalrous. He quickly crossed the road, his mind made up, and approached her cautiously, not meaning to scare her at all, _

'_Hey,' he said nervously, and she turned to face him. She looked scared initially, but when she caught sight of that smile on his lips, part of her just kind of melted inside. 'Hey,' she whispered back through chattering teeth. Noting this, Rob quickly removed his warm leather jacket and draped it around her shoulders. She smiled appreciatively, although she was a bit freaked out that some stranger had just offered his coat to her. 'Sorry, but who are you?' she asked curiously, not unkindly, but just out of intuition. He grinned at her, raised his eyebrows sharply and replied with, 'Rob Scotcher, at your service. And you would be?'_

'_Just Karen,' she replied quickly, not wanting to give everything about herself away. But she felt like she could trust this very handsome stranger, as crazy as that sounded, but he just had this sort of air and charm about him that was utterly irresistible. 'Well than Miss Karen, may I enquire as to why you are stood here on this very rainy evening in a very lovely dress?'_

'_I'm waiting for someone. They're late,' she added upon seeing the concerned expression on his face. He relaxed and his body loosened and his roguish grin returned, 'Is that a boyfriend, or just a friend?' 'A friend,' she replied incredibly quickly. That was a complete lie in itself, but what the hell? This Rob was a lovely guy. 'Well can I interest you in a drink whilst you wait?'_

'_No, I can't sorry. He'll be here soon.'_

'_May I ask you for something else then?' he added hopefully, saddened at her refusal. However, he knew she was reluctant to say no to him. She laughed a little bit, 'Depends on what it is Mister Scotcher.' He smiled once more, she was indeed a very witty woman, and un-embarrassedly replied with, 'A kiss. A kiss from you Miss Karen.' _

_Normally, in this given situation, Karen would've nutted the guy in question, slapped him and run away, and she had been forced to do that a few times before. But she felt alive and kind of strange when she was with this guy. And as the rain continued to trickle down her cheeks and hair, she carefully whispered, 'Go for it.' He beamed attractively and leaned in towards her. She pulled away from the lamp post, put her arms through his jacket so she was wearing it properly, and moved in towards him as well. He nervously pressed his lips against hers and what felt almost like an electric shock rattled through both of their bodies. She subconsciously pulled her body closer to his and burrowed her lips deeper into his, placing her hands on his shoulders. He gently entwined his fingers through her hair and even though it was damp and thin now, it felt so wonderful and soft. She felt warm again, like it wasn't evening raining, like her running mascara wasn't rubbing against his cheeks, like she wasn't stood in the street kissing a stranger. But it felt brilliant, fantastic, extraordinary, bellismo. _

_Slowly, she dragged her lips away from his and smiled, 'I've got to go now Rob. See you around some time.' And with that, still wearing his jacket, she waltzed off down the street, unaware that half her lipstick was missing, feeling very happy with herself… Rob stood exactly where he was, stunned that his request had been granted, staring after Karen, admiring his lovely view of her legs. _

_And then, thirty six years later, when he first walked into her office for his job interview, Rob Scotcher recognized Karen Fisher straight away. To be fair, he did walk in behind her, and although the lengths of her clothing had increased, she still looked exactly the same. Something in the back of her mind had clicked, like déjà vu, but she just couldn't remember where she knew him from. But when they had their first (well, second) kiss, Karen remembered everything…_

He waited thirty years to see her again; he could wait a few more hours. So he just kept holding her hand, kissing her forehead, praying that in the next few seconds she would wake up.

X – X – X

Her eyes opened wearily, and she was almost blinded by the bright white of the room. She stared at the ceiling for a few moments, making sure her eyes had adjusted to the sudden change in light, before a crisp voice said, 'Evening beautiful.' She turned her head to the right, her body too weak and frail to move with her, and saw Rob sat next to her, holding her hand, the biggest smile she had ever seen etched upon his face. He suddenly leant down and hugged her, inhaling her scent, his arms warm against her skin, 'Thank God you're okay.' She was confused, puzzled and bemused all at the same time. It was like someone had written down her memories, but then scribbled out the last four days. She couldn't remember going to dinner, being sick, having a nosebleed proceeded by a seizure. She couldn't remember being proposed to, she couldn't remember any of it.

When Rob finally drew away from her and planted a kiss to her cheek, she quickly murmured, looking down and seeing her now flat stomach, 'Rob, where's the baby?' And with that one small enquiry, his smile vanished from sight, tears ruptured in his eyes, and his voice became an uncontrollable quiver. It took him a few minutes, and he just breathed in and out, trying so hard not to break down into tears again, before she nervously asked again, 'Rob, where's the baby?' He looked her in the eyes, those beautiful blue eyes, and he wished he was dead. He would've preferred to have been dead than have to say what he was about to.

He choked on his words, spitting them out like they were poison but retaining them like they were the most expensive secret, 'We lost the kid Karen. They didn't make it.'

Silence is a strange thing. It is used in all sorts of situations: when a joke isn't funny, when you can't think of anything to say, when you're told you've lost your unborn child. Karen didn't cry, but she didn't do much else either. She just sat in her hospital bed, staring directly at him, her mouth open in shock. She can't believe, she really cannot believe it. She places a hand to her stomach, half expecting her bump to be there, hidden under the covers. Instead she finds a large scar, barely visible underneath many layers of stitches. Distressing was an understatement. Jeez, he's not kidding. Oh my God, she thinks, oh my God. And she can't quite think of anything else to say.

'I'm so sorry Karen. I'm so, so sorry,' Rob whispered, placing his lips on the back of her hand, but she was limp. Dead, almost emotionless, she couldn't feel. There was no pain, at least not yet. She didn't doubt there wouldn't be any. She just feels empty, completely empty. Like someone has drained her entire body and now she is just a walking shell with no soul.

'What happened?' she barely managed to breathe out, clutching his hand close to her, not letting him slip from her grasp. A tear that is sliding down his face splashes against the floor and more follow before he just manages to reply with, 'They said the C-section was an obscure option, but the kid had no chance of survival without it, but it was always going to be dangerous.' She was confused once again, 'Then why did they send me in for it if they knew it had a chance of harming the baby?'

He broke eye contact with her and stood quickly, grabbed a box of tissues from the side and blew his nose and wiped his tears away, 'They said that the baby had no hope if you didn't go in for it. Just, something went wrong and the roles kind of reversed.' Karen was again shocked by this, but a new emotion was rising up in her. Her voice became louder and she asked, 'If I hadn't had the operation, would the baby have survived?'

'I don't know, maybe,' Rob murmured weakly, going to brush her cheek lovingly. Instead she swatted his hand away and almost shouted at him, 'Then why the hell did you send me in for it?' He knew that she was going to be all over the place after what he had told her, but he had expected tears not a telling off, 'Because we didn't think it would hurt the kid. I was so worried about you…'

'But it did hurt the baby!' she yelled back in retaliation. Karen did not seem fazed by his worry. Instead she clambered out of the bed, standing unsteadily on her feet but pushing away the hands that went to hold her straight. She turned to him, and took a small step, so she was staring him right in the face, literally about one inch away from him. Her voice was a low venomous whisper now and she asked, 'Why didn't you let me go? I had a good life, I've lived well, but the baby hadn't even had you know, its first breaths or anything! It's not fair!'

'I didn't know! I wasn't going to lose either of you, but look what happened. These things always happen, but I don't ever want to lose you. You have no idea what it was like to have to stand there and watch you bleed and faint and fit, you have no idea what it was like!' he yelled back, regardless of the fact that this was not her. He wasn't, not for one second, going to let her believe that he didn't care about their child, because he did, so, so much, but he loved her until the ends of the earth. She stared up at him, into his eyes and asked, 'How could you do this?' He had no answer. She repeated the question, but he still could not force his mouth open and will an explanation to emerge; he didn't have one. He loved her, and that was it.

'Get out,' she mumbled, her voice unwilling and sad. He stared at her, raised his eyebrows and said, 'What?' in incredulity. She stood even closer, and shouted, 'JUST GET OUT!' She pointed her finger at him and then at the door. He tried to protest, but she just kept screaming at him, and hitting him weakly until he started to walk over to the exit. 'I love you,' he said bluntly, before leaving the room.

As soon as he shut the door behind him, all her barriers came down and she erupted into hysterical sobs and collapsed down on the floor, leaning on the door, resting her body on it, looking for some sort of support. She almost could not breathe as she sobbed and cried out, embracing her knees just below her chin, weeping and letting a billion tears fall from her face. Outside, Rob sat down against the door and let a few gentle tears slide down his stubbly cheeks. He could hear her crying and he just felt completely wretched. He slipped his hand underneath the door, under the gap, and waited patiently before a hand landed on top of his and squeezed it tightly. Her sobs subsided for just a moment and he whispered, 'Let me in Karen.'

The hand lifted from his, and he stood from his position as he heard shuffling from inside her room. There was an infallible silence whilst he waited and he felt so awful for everything that he had put her through that it was barely believable. He just hoped that they would be able to get through this together, that she could somehow forgive him for his mistake and they could mourn their loss together.

The door creaked as Karen undid the lock, and she pulled it open just a fraction and then stepped back. As soon as he walked through the door, they just stood for a second, looking deep into one another's eyes, before she collapsed into his arms and cried awfully into his chest. He threw his arms around her body and kissed her hair, his own tears dripping onto her head. She choked, struggling for air against her vicious wails, and clutched his shirt with both hands. She tried to close her eyes and stop the tears, but they wouldn't. He kept her within his tight grasp as she wept against his chest and he whispered, 'I'm so sorry Karen. I love you so much beautiful, I love you.'

They stood like this for almost an hour until Rob shushed Karen and led her over to her bed. He lifted her into his arms and then laid her down, pulling the covers over her frail form. She moved to the left, and patted next to her. He grimaced and kicked off his shoes and climbed in next to her. She turned to face him, red eyed, and before either of them knew it, she started crying again. So she cried against his once more, he held her in his arms once more, he kissed her forehead once more, and they both shed tears for the loss of their child. It wasn't fair, and it was just ripping both of them apart. He didn't know how they would cope, Rob thought as he held Karen in his grip on the bed, his tears merging with hers to make a huge pool, but they would. They had each other.


	8. Four Years Later

In typical, clichéd stories and movies, cemeteries and graveyards are depicted as being dark and gloomy and utterly depressing. A lifeless and soul-less place, terrifying to be in after dark, haunted by the ghosts and spirits of all those who lay buried beneath the ground. But these stupid stories and ridiculous films are wrong; graveyards are sincerely one of the most beautiful places in the world. There is a kaleidoscope of colours printed across the horizon, thousands of brightly coloured petals brightening up the place. There are blossom trees scattered in all directions, the tiny pink blossom petals scurrying and rushing across the uneven concrete slabs in the mid-spring breeze. This place isn't haunted either: it's completely silent, which is both eerie and stunning. The silence comforts her as she walks down the grey pathway, a young bunch of flowers hanging limply in her right hand. She is in her own company, totally alone, shrouded within a bubble of quiet. There is no one else here on a Sunday afternoon, but it doesn't faze her. The only thing that remotely worries her is that this is, in fact, the first time she has visited her daughter's grave without her husband by her side. Rob doesn't know that she's coming here today, and he wouldn't suspect that this would be the place she was at, even if he did come home early. The reason she didn't tell him was because she knew he would insist on coming with her, and she had to do it by herself this time otherwise she never would.

It's been over four years since she lost her daughter. In that time, she and Rob had gotten married (after he proposed again seeing as the fit made her forget the first one where she had been lying on the hospital bed, waiting for the surgery), Karen had been reinstated as headmistress of Waterloo Road, and one of her other daughters, Jess, was pregnant for the second time after becoming engaged to Aiden. Everything was perfect for Jess, but Karen had learnt that she could never resent her children. She would never again judge them or hold them back because if she lost another one, then she would die.

She approaches the headstone, she can see it and although her head is screaming and begging for her to stop and turn and run away, she persists and within the next ten seconds, she reaches a tunnel to her past. The headstone is black marble, but does not stand out in the swarm and midst of hundreds of other gravestones. There is writing etched upon it, the beautiful words chosen by her husband; she was too distraught at the time to have any considerable input.

_'Rosamund Eloise Scotcher._

_Sleep tight baby, we'll never forget you.'_

No mother should ever have to bury their child, but she pushes that thought aside. It seems strange that Karen is smiling as she sits down, cross-legged on the cold ground, but she has no tears to shed anymore. The first three times they visited together, she cried and wept so hard that she collapsed down into Rob's arms and begged for her to come back. But with every time she visited, the pain still existed, but it wasn't as ferocious and overbearing anymore, although it was still horrendous at times. She places the flowers down by the grave and strokes the headstone, the coldness of the marble resonating across her skin giving her goose bumps, although that is not the only reason she has them.

'Hey baby,' she says calmly, replacing her hands back on her knees, 'It's just me today; daddy couldn't make it.' It used to unnerve her when people spoke to headstones, it didn't seem right, but no one knows what is right or wrong in society until they go through the agony of losing a child themselves. Now, it seems like the most average thing, and Karen knows that somewhere her baby is listening to her words. She needs this for comfort and healing, and it helps. 'Well I can't stay long baby, but I've got enough time for a chat.' She unwraps the flowers from their plastic coating and lays them skilfully across the gravestone. They are a subtle and calming blue against the black, and Karen begins to explain her choice to her daughter.

'I bought you some forget-me-nots. I got blue flowers because I didn't want to stereotype you just as a simple girly girl because you're so much more than that darling. As for the forget-me-nots, just to explain that we're never going to forget you baby. But you already know that don't you darling?' Karen continues to smile, and she again strokes the headstone. There are so many things she wants to tell her baby, and so, for the next forty five minutes, Karen tells Rosamund about her siblings (Jess, Harry, Bex and Aiden), and then about her niece Carla and then about her daddy Rob. It seems silly to some, but this is her baby's family and Karen realized a few years ago that Rosamund deserves to know everything about them.

In the first year since her death, her darling daughter's gravestone was covered in huge amounts of flowers, ranging from such unexpected people as Naomi, all the way over to the students at Waterloo Road, who on Karen's first week back all walked out of school at break time and went to the cemetery to offer their respect. It had both broken and healed Karen's heart.

'And then, daddy was trying to help Uncle Tom fix the drinks machine in the canteen, but he blew one of the fuses and then it exploded milkshake all over him,' Karen said, chuckling drily. Time has been very kind to her, and her face is still as radiant and beautiful as ever, but vaguely lined and weary, but in all honesty what would you expect? Seeing the time to be now half past three, Karen realizes that if she wants to get home on time before Rob does, she has to leave now.

'Hang on baby, before I go, I brought something for you,' Karen suddenly exclaims, and she reaches into her jacket pocket and pulls out a photo frame. She kept this picture for three years, in this very pocket ever since they cleared out the nursery, never having the courage to actually put it down. She puts the photo by the gravestone and Karen sees the picture for the first time in three years. Rob, her fantastic and incredible husband, and a heavily pregnant version of her, lying on a bed and she is being fed ice cream by him. Karen's smile only increases when she sees it again; it may be painful to look back at herself as pregnant as this with nothing to show for it but a gravestone, but it shows her such a happy time in her life. She is happy again now, but the metaphorical hole in her heart will never ever heal. But her tears do not exist anymore; she has none left to shed. She loves her family, and she loves her baby, and love is all they need to stay connected. Just because someone is not living on this earth with you, and their life has been so cruelly snatched away, love exists between two people anywhere and everywhere.

It took Rob and Karen just two hours to pick their baby's name in the end. Rosamund was after Rob's grandmother, Eloise from a name book, and Karen made sure that her baby kept her daddy's surname. 'Fisher' technically belonged to Charlie, and although they now get on fine, her baby is nothing to do with him. It's just her little girl, so brutally wrenched away from her and Rob's lives.

'Bye Rosie, sleep tight baby,' Karen whispers, a small smile on her lips. She strokes the gravestone once more with her palm, which sounds like a strange thing to do but this is her little girl, and she blows a kiss to the headstone before starting the long trek through the bright and beautiful cemetery. Rosamund Eloise Scotcher – frankly, Karen's never been more proud of anyone in her life.


End file.
